Learning to Appreciate
by Caya Strife
Summary: Surprises await the crew of the Going Merry, and especially the navigator, the cook and the swordsman. Bear in mind, however, that surprises are not neccessarily happy ones...Please read and review! [completed September 30, 2005]
1. Notice the changes

**Learning to appreciate working title**  
A One Piece Fanfiction  
by Caya Strife

* * *

Disclaimer: I neither own One Piece, nor its characters, locations or other things connected to it. All I own is the – more or less – original plot. 

And even if you do decide to sue me: go ahead, I don't have any money

* * *

"Sanjiiii! I want breakfast!" The captain yelled and impatiently banged against the bunk of the crew's cook. 

Said young man awoke slowly, wearily opening his eyes to see Luffy right in front of him, sporting this widest grin. He brushed a hand through his blond bangs and stifled a yawn. _This guy would rather chop off his own leg than miss a meal…_

"Allright, allright, I'll prepare something." Sanji answered and brought himself up into a sitting position, swinging his legs out of his bed.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaay!" Luffy yelled enthusiastically and did a little jump of joy, "Zoro! Usopp! Chopper! Nami! Breeeakfast!" he continued and stormed out of the guys' room, heading for the deck.

Sanji shook his head with a smile, walked over to this trunk and grabbed his trademark black suit. Quickly, he got dressed and walked up to the deck to check on everybody before he would start preparing the crew's breakfast in his beloved refuge from the daily ramblings of this nakama – the kitchen. As of now, the ship was surprisingly silent, apart from the sounds of their captain banging his knife and fork on the kitchen table, soundly insisting on meat.

The sun was rising high in the sky, warming up the cold night's air. A soft breeze blew around him as he took out his first cigarette of the day and lit it with a match. In the shadow of ship's mast lay Zoro, swords tightly clutched in his hands, low snoring sounds escaping his half-opened lips. Sanji knew better than to wake up; there was nothing worse than a grumpy swordsman ready to chop off your head for having been woken from his nap. And if Zoro threatened to do bodily harm, he meant it.

From below the deck, Sanji could hear footsteps and the low mumblings of their little doctor Chopper and the long-nosed Usopp. Apparently, they had not been able to sleep through Luffy's commotion and thus decided to just call it a night and join their hungry captain. That made five out of six crew members covered. Now it was just their navigator left.

His Nami-san… Sanji's heart did a jump at the pure thought of his red-headed nakama. Since he had first laid his eyes upon her when he started his journey with the Straw Hat pirates, he had fallen head over heels for the girl. Sure, he was a woman's man, a flirt, who fancied the pretty. But with Nami, it was not just about the looks; there was something more to her that made his heart skip a beat whenever she gave him a smile or complimented his cooking. For her he did his best.

Come to think of it, the navigator had been on night duty and thus should still be up, somewhere on the deck, with her compass, constantly checking the course of their ship and watching out for the Marines.

_"Hmmm… she might be…", _he thought to himself and made his way to the little grove of orange trees Nami had brought with her from Cocoyashi. It used to be her favorite spot onboard the whole ship, where she would often sit, tending the trees, smiling about those rare happy memories of her past with Belmere and Nojiko. With a smile playing on his lips, he spotted the navigator's redhead in the shade of the trees and happily approached her.

"Good morning, Nami-san, did you have a good night? I hope you are not too exhausted from…" he abruptly stopped as he had reached her. His Nami-san was sleeping peacefully with her head on her arms, a smile playing on her lips. This was strange. She had never fallen asleep on her duty; usually, she took it very seriously and gave it all her attention.

"Nami-san?" Sanji said lowly, carefully touching her shoulder. He certainly would not mind letting her sleep, yet he was sure that she herself had not intended on falling asleep.

The girl's thin frame stirred slightly under the cook's touch and her eyes fluttered open.

"Hn… Sanji-kun?" she asked sleepily, looking up at the young man withdrawing his hand from her shoulder. She pushed her head up and squinted at the sun blinding her. "What… what time is it?"

"It's past seven already", Sanji answered in reply "You must've fallen asleep. While you were on duty."

"Wha! Oh no!" she blurted out and sprang to her feet immediately. "Darn, how could I?" she scolded herself and shook her head.

"Never mind that, Nami-san", Sanji smiled at her "You were just tired. It's okay." His Nami-san, so committed to her duties, so unforgiving with herself. "Don't worry, it'll remain between the two of us, nobody else will know, allright?"

The red-headed girl grinned and nodded her head apologetically. "Arigato, Sanji-kun! It's not going to happen again, I promise."

"Don't worry about it", Sanji smiled, his heart yet again skipping a beat at Nami's smile. "Breakfast will be ready in a little bit. Is there anything special I can fix for you?"

Nami gave a little laugh at the cook's attempt and shook her head. "Naw, Sanji-kun, I'm sure I'll be fine with whatever you serve."

"Ah, aye, Nami-san!" Sanji grinned wildly and rushed for the kitchen, leaving a laughing navigator among the orange groves.

* * *

"Ah, breakfast" Usopp smiled and grabbed his fork and knife while the boy with the straw hat on his right was already shoving enormous amounts of meat down his throat. 

Tony Tony Chopper, the little reindeer, eyed the captain incredulously. No matter how often he would see it, he, as a doctor, still couldn't believe how this skinny boy could gobble down all that food and never put on a single pound of weight. Next to him sat Roronoa Zoro, quietly chewing on some cheese. The swordsman had finally gotten up by himself, probably awakened by the smell of food from the kitchen. He was grumpy nevertheless. It had developed into a character trait of his, and a happily laughing Zoro seemed as obscure as Luffy declining the offer of a heap of meat.

While all the others were helping themselves to their food, Sanji putting a finished touch to his freshly baked buns and poured some orange juice into a glass.

With a creaking sound, the door opened and Nami stepped into the kitchen, her sandals producing a clanking sound on the wooden floor.

"Good morning", she said, smiling, and sank down on her chair at the table.

"Mhm.. mmmornin'", Luffy mumbled while chewing on yet another piece of meat.

"Good morning again, Nami-san!" Sanji said, grinning widely. He walked over to her and put down the glass of orange juice. "There you go, Nami-san. Freshly made orange juice, just for you!"

Zoro scowled at the cook's sweet-talk and let out a grunting noise. "Oh cut it out, already."

"Whatcha scowling at, idiot?" Sanji retorted, shooting the swordsman a killing glare.

Just when Zoro was about to give the cook a reply, and thus start an argument that would undoubtedly just be the first in a series of arguments for that day, the navigator rose from her chair, grabbed her cane and shot the two men a threatening look. "You better stop it already, guys, or else…"

The men at the table gulped and quietly returned to eating their breakfast. Upsetting Nami could easily earn you a smack; cane or not, both usually turned out quite painful. And they all preferred not to risk that. For a while, they all ate in silence; Nami simply nipped at her juice and stifled a few yawns. The tiredness seemed to catch up with her.

"Eh, Nami-san?" Sanji asked, glancing up from his plate to the navigator sitting at his side. The girl looked back at him questioningly. "Don't you wanna eat anything? You sure have to be hungry after being on duty all night?"

The navigator smiled at him and shook her head, stifling another yawn. "Naw, Sanji-kun, I'm allright. I don't really feel like eating just now." Another yawn. "I guess I rather got some sleep now." Thus she rose from her place at the table. "I'll see you guys later then." With that, she left the kitchen, her footsteps echoing in the hallway.

Sanji looked after her, his face showing worry for this nakama.

"Nami… mhm… dun wan'her food?" Luffy mumbled and immediately grabbed the navigator's plate, gobbling down the food in the fraction of a second.

"Hmm… strange… she should be hungry after a night shift. It's not really like Nami-san…" Chopper remarked, looking thoughtful.

"And she yawned a lot, too. Geez", Usopp said and let out a toothy yawn himself, "it's even makin' me tired."

Zoro just shrugged, not even looking up from his plate. "That's women for ya", he stated while munching on his food, "nothin' but trouble."

_

* * *

_

_Now all I need is that screwdriver to fasten the hold on that, and my grandest invention will be completed! _Usopp though to himself, sporting a wide, toothy grin as he made his way to the guys' room to get some tools.

_Huh, what's this? _In the distance, he could hear strange, retching noises. The closer he came to the bathroom, the louder the noise grew. _Hmmm… maybe Zoro got himself drunk again? But he seemed fine just a little bit ago…_ The retching stopped, followed by the sound of flushing water. A few seconds later, the door opened and a visibly pale Nami stepped carefully out into the hallway. Upon noticing Usopp's presence, she looked shocked. Yet after the split seconds, she regained control over her facial features and grinned at her long nosed nakama.

"Umm you allright, Nami?" he asked, not exactly sure what to make of the scene he had just witnessed.

"Of course!" Nami still grinned, waving her hand up and down, "I was just refreshing myself!" Thus she walked back into the direction of her room, leaving a puzzled Usopp.

_Just refreshing? _He thought to himself with a thoughtful look. _Now who's the liar on this ship?_

_

* * *

_

The sun was slowly setting, and the soft breezes became cooler. The crew of the Going Merry was finishing their daily business; Zoro was snoring away in the last sunrays, Usopp was telling Luffy and Chopper another of his stories, frightening the little reindeer to the bone, Nami was once again using her compass and maps to check the ship's course and Sanji was in the kitchen, preparing a snack for said red-headed navigator.

"Sweet orange rolls for my sweet Nami-san" chimed the cook, hearty-eyed and filed the desert onto a small plate. Happily humming to himself, he strolled onto the deck over to his Nami-san. The young woman was bent over her maps, intently doing calculations on distance, speed and course of the Star Hat Pirates' ship.

"Oi, Nami-san, I made a snack for you!" he beamed at her, holding out the plate.

She looked up at him, her face pale, eyes showing a lack of sleep. "Thank you, Sanji-kun", she attempted a smile "but I'm not really hungry right now. And I need to finish this tonight." She nodded at the heap of maps lying in front of her.

Sanji shot her a worried look. "Are you sure? Are you feeling allright? Is anything wrong?"

"Yes, I'm fine, really, Sanji", she let out a small sigh. "I'm just a little busy here."

"Allright then, but don't overexert yourself, Nami-san!" he said as he turned away and walked over to Luffy, Usopp and Chopper. They were still sitting on the deck, captain and doctor listening to the sharp-shooter's tales. The guys looked up at their approaching cook and Luffy immediately spotted the food in his hand.

"Saaaaaaaaanji you made me a snack!" he yelled, grabbed the orange rolls and gulped them down. "Ah good"

Sanji sighed and sat down. "Well actually, I made those for Nami. But she said she wasn't hungry."

"Again?" Chopper asked and looked up at the cook, "But she hasn't eaten anything all day? That's strange."

Luffy and Sanji nodded. Usopp, however, frowned, concentrated on something.

"Come to think of it, there was somethin' else pretty weird, too", he started, thoughtfully.

Sanji looked at him intently. "What was it? Come on, tell me!" he urged.

"Allright allright", the long nosed boy answered, "a little earlier, when I was walking down the hallway to our room to get some tools, I passed the bathroom, and there were some strange noises coming from it. It sounded like someone was throwing up in there. First I thought it was just Zoro who'd gotten himself drunk again, but then Nami came out. She said she'd just been refreshing herself", then Usopp grinned "But I can tell a liar when I see him." The sharp-shooter seemed proud of that, and his captain nodded in reply, grinning widely.

"Mhm mhm, you really can!"

"Hmmm…", Sanji's face showed genuine worry. When it came to his Nami, all his senses were alert. Every small change was registered instantly. "She looked pale, too, and tired. Very tired… I don't like this…"

Chopper quickly nodded in approval. He, too, was worried about his crewmate, his nakama. And being the doctor, even more so.

"Chopper?" Sanji asked, looking at the little reindeer. The latter gazed back questioningly. "I would like you to talk to Nami. I think she needs a check-up."

* * *

"Are you sure that this necessary?" Nami asked impatiently, sighing and leaned back on the bunk in the small room that the ship's doctor had improvised as his little examination room. 

Chopper, while he was going through his instruments, obviously looking for something, nodded. "Mhm", he replied, "with all those symptoms you show, I think it's better to find out what it is and how we can treat it. Who knows, it might just be nothing."

Nami nodded quietly and suppressed a yawn.

After a few more seconds, Chopper had finally found what he had been looking for: a syringe. Nami shuddered.

"I don't like these…"

"I… I'm sorry…" Chopper stuttered, "but I'll have to take a blood sample. Otherwise I won't be able to tell what's wrong."

Nami sighed. "Can't you tell just from the symptoms? I mean, there has to be another way. Without using one of those." She pointed at the syringe.

"I'm sorry, but it's essential. I'll make it short, ok?" Chopper offered.

"Mhm…", Nami nodded and closed her eyes.

Chopper walked up to the navigator and softly set the syringe to her arm. Slowly, he took some of the blood and carefully pulled the needle back out. Nami winced quietly and opened her eyes as Chopper took a small piece of bandage and pressed it onto the small punctuated wound.

"Just press this on it for a little bit until it stops bleeding. In the meantime, I'll do the blood analysis."

Nami nodded and pressed the bandage. With a sigh, she sank down against the wall and closed her eyes. On the other side of the room, the little reindeer was busy filling the blood into vials, adding various liquids and doing cross checks with color charts and other tables. _He seems to know what he's doing, _Nami thought. Several minutes went by and he was still handling the charts and clanking the vials. After a while he seemed to slow and concentrate on one certain vial. He gazed at it intently.

"This is weird…", he mumbled under his breath and shook his head. "It can't be…" He took a clean vial, poured in some blood and added the content of a small, dusty bottle. The clanking of glass started annoying Nami, and watching him shake the liquids around made her dizzy.

"Are you done yet?" she asked, impatiently, tapping her fingers against the side of her thigh.

Chopper took another look at a chart in his hand, turned around and nodded, averting her to look into his patient's eyes.

"What is it then?" she inquired, growing more and more impatient.

The little reindeer, though, did not answer straight away, much to her annoyance, but looked at her weirdly. He then took a pen, marked something on the chart he was holding and handed it over to the redhead. She grabbed for it and took a closer look at the paper. Medical terms, mostly, accompanied by numbers. Then she came to the part that Chopper had marked and read the paragraph along with the scribbling beside it. With every sentence, every word she read, her eyes grew wider, her disbelief stronger.

"No… This… this can't be. Chopper, you must've made a mistake somewhere!" she blurted out, hopingly, pleadingly.

Yet he shook his head in reply. "No, I've triple checked it… There can't be any mistake." He looked sympathetically at the young woman who now hung her head low.

"How… how much longer?" came out in barely a whisper.

Chopper took another look at the chart Nami had handed back to him and answered: "About seven months, more or less, I'd say…"

The redhead sighed, got off the bunk and onto her shaky legs. _This just wasn't possible… _

"Please, Chopper, promise me something."

The little one nodded in response.

"Don't tell the others yet, okay? I'm just not ready… Not yet…" With that, she staggered out of the room, feeling even sicker than before the examination.

... to be continued...

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_a/n: weeeell... This was basically just an idea I had when reading some other One Piece Fanfiction (don't ask me about the title, I don't remember it) and since I'm currently 'banned' from college (stomach infection or somethin the like), I actually found the time to put the first part of it down. _

_However, I have absolutely no idea if I will keep writing and updating, since I have no idea if anybody will like the story at all. So I basically make it dependant on your reviews. If you like it and want me to continue the story, the pleeeeeeease, pretty pleeeeeease let me know, okay Arigato_


	2. Surprise Surprise

**Chapter 2: Surprise surprise**

The green-haired swordsman had woken up to the last rays of sunlight and decided to take a break from napping and rather get some exercise. After all, it took a worked out and steeled body to be a skilled and successful swordfighter. So now, he was kneeling close to the door, doing push-up after push-up, iron weights pushing down on this shoulders. It was after several dozen exercises that the door behind him opened up and a pale-looking Nami stepped out onto the deck.

"Yo!" Zoro started, pushing himself up into a sitting position, laying his weights beside him. "So what did the doc say?"

Nami seemed startled, surprised that there was somebody there apart from herself.

"Umm…", she tried, head mind obviously consumed by some other though, "Just… just a stomach flu or something. Should be over soon." She stated with a nod and walked off.

_Hmm, _Zoro frowned inwardly, _lying to me, huh? So obvious. She used to be better than this… There has to be something else about it…_

While Zoro was still in deep though about what that "something" could be, little Chopper stepped outside. And as if he had smelled or somehow sensed it, the cook was by his side within split seconds.

"So what is it, Chopper? What's troubling my Nami-san?" Sanji asked impatiently.

Chopper seemed nervous, though he certainly hid it well, Zoro thought. _Well now let's see what story he's got for us…_

"That? Oh… umm… It's probably just from the weather changing. Her… her body heavily reacts to it."

_There there, should've made sure you'd tell the same story…_

"That's it? Really? So she's going to be ok, right?" the cook inquired, visibly relieved after hearing the information.

"Y…Yeah, she'll be ok", Chopper answered and nodded early, "But there's something I have to read up now, sorry!" he added hastily and hopped off.

"Just from the weather changing, huh? Yeah right…" Zoro watched the little guy leave and shook his head.

"What is it, idiot? He's a doc, he's gotta know!" Sanji bellowed at the green-haired man.

"So what?" Zoro yelled back, yet regained control over his temper and quietly continued with a smirk. "Just that he knows doesn't mean he's gonna tell us the truth."

Sanji got down and grabbed the other man by the collar.

"Tell me what you're talkin' about already! Why would he be lying to us!"

Zoro freed himself from the cook's grasp and glared at him.

"You want me to talk, right? Then keep your hands off of me!… Well, just a bit before you talked to Chopper, Nami came out here and I asked her what they'd found out. And she said it was just a stomach flu. Now, I'm not a doc or somethin', but a stomach flu and the effects of weather change aren't exactly the same, are they? Next time they make up stories, they better agree on what to tell first."

Sanji looked baffled. And though he hated to admit it, the swordsman was right. Something seemed to be wrong. Something serious enough to make them lie to their nakama.

"So… what can we do about it?" he asked, reluctantly, not liking the fact of having to ask Zoro for advice.

"Well", the latter started, "Nami won't talk, of course, if she doesn't want to. So that only leaves Chopper. He can be pretty stubborn though. And if Nami had him promise, and she sure did, then you just won't get him to talk. It sucks, but I guess all we can do is wait."

"I don't like that…" Sanji said, gritting his teeth, and fingered for a package of cigarettes in his pocket.

"Nobody said y'had to like it", Zoro stated grimly.

* * *

Several days had already gone by without Nami or Chopper deviating from their original stories. So far, Sanji and Zoro had been able to hold themselves back from confronting the two. They had not even told Usopp or their captain about their suspicions. Too easily would they spill the secret out to anyone willing to listen. 

Needless to say that Nami's physical condition had not improved. The tiredness, the occasional sickness, it was all still there, just like it had before. Something else about her had changed though. Since the check up with Chopper, the navigator had become much more withdrawn than ever before. She was often found hunched over her maps in her room or retreated to the little grove of orange trees. Certainly, she still joined the other crew members at meals and other group activities. But wherever she was and whatever was going on around her, she always seemed to be worried and in deep though. Something serious seemed to be on her mind constantly. She was just not the old Nami anymore.

That day, it appeared to be no different. While everybody was sitting at the table devouring their dinner, the red headed girl just picked at it listlessly. Her glass of juice was but half empty, her plate still as full as it had been when Sanji had placed it in front of her.

"Aren't you hungry, Nami-san?" Sanji asked her, worry etched into his features, "You should eat something."

Nami just shook her head in reply and forced a smile.

"I'm fine, Sanji-kun, just not really hungry."

"But Nami…" Chopper spoke up, pushing her plate closer to her. "Sanji's right, you really should eat something."

"Mhm…" Nami nodded and gave in. Slowly, she started helping herself to some of the fruits the cook had piled on her plate trying to make sure that she would get enough vitamins.

_Man, something's really wrong here… _Sanji thought to himself and stood up from his place. After putting his dirty plates into the sink, he leaned against the wall, took out his matches and was right about to light himself a cigarette when:

"Sanji, please, could you go outside to smoke?" Chopper demanded, glancing at Nami quickly.

"What the…?" Sanji yelled. His crewmembers flinched at the sound, and the navigator guiltily stared at her hands, biting her lower lip. But Sanji did not feel like remaining quiet this time. He rose his voice again. "Since when can somebody tell me what to do in MY kitchen? What the hell is going on here anywayz? You and Nami telling us these stories that don't even match! Now would somebody please tell me what the f..k is wrong here?"

A clanking sound echoed abruptly through the room as Nami jumped up and knocked over her chair.

"I'm pregnant, damn it! That's what's wrong! You happy now?" she yelled, her eyes tearing up as she glared at Sanji.

"N-Nami-san…", he stuttered.

That had done it. She now had the unshared attention of every single person in the room. They were gaping, surprised, to say the least.

"But… how?" the cook stammered.

Nami gave a sarcastic chuckle brought her hand up to her forehead.

"I doubt I'll have to explain to you how it works."

Sanji was trying hard to regain control over his voice and senses.

"T…That's not what I meant. But when… and especially who?"

"Well", Nami started, leaning back against the wall with a grim look. "The former I can answer. You all remember that night two months ago, right? After that one big party. We all were pretty drunk, and I don't remember anything that happened. Chopper said it must've happened two months ago though, so that's the only possible answer."

The ship's doctor nodded in agreement. Usopp and Sanji looked perplexed, Luffy slowly munched on his food, looking back and forth between his nakama.

"And while Luffy and Usopp fell asleep right at the bar, the last thing I remember is going back to the ship with Sanji and Zoro and having some more wine on the deck…" she sighed, looked up at the ceiling and mumbled under her breath: "God, I swear I'll never touch a single glass of alcohol again…"

Usopp's eyes turned the size of saucer as he realized what their navigator had just told them.

"So, that means either Sanji or Zoro is the father?"

Nami nodded with another sigh, hanging her head low.

"Father?" Luffy barely stopped chewing for an instant and looked back and forth between the cook and the swordsman. "I didn't know you had kids?"

"Ahhhh they don't yet!" Usopp yelled at his captain impatiently. "But one of them is the father of Nami's baby!"

Luffy blinked once again and looked at his navigator.

"Nani? I didn't know you have a baby, Nami-san?"

The young woman face-faulted and Usopp knocked on his captain's forehead.

"You dimwit, weren't you listening at all? She didn't have it yet, and she's not gonna have it until in some months!"

"If she's going to have it at all", Zoro spoke up quietly and thus had everybody look at him questioningly.

"What are you saying, you idiot, why shouldn't she?" Sanji shot him a deadly glare.

"Well", the green-haired man continued calmly, "it's up to her to keep the baby or not, isn't it? If she doesn't want it, there's nothin' we can do about it."

"Stop that shit already, will ya?" Sanji threatened and glared at him once more. "You just want to get away from taking responsibility, don't you? You selfish… little…"

"No, Sanji", the little reindeer spoke up, using all of the self-confidence he could muster. "He's right. It's Nami's choice after all." Chopper straightened himself up and looked at Nami sympathetically. "How much longer until we reach the next island?"

She quickly did some approximate calculations in her head and, giving him a puzzled look, said: "About four more days. After that, the next one is about three months away. Why?"

"Well", Chopper started, "That means you have about four days left to make your choice. When we reach the island after that, you would already be five months along, which is too late for an abortion."

Nami flinched slightly at the sound of the word, for the first time these days realizing what her options were and how soon she would have to make that decision which could have such grave an effect on her life.

"Anyway", Chopper added, "No matter what choice you make, you will need a check-up with a more experienced doctor. Just to make sure."

"Mhm, okay…" Nami acknowledged with a nod. "Well, I think I'll be going to my room then. There's some more calculations for the course I have to do." Pushing herself off from the wall with much more effort than usually, made her way out of the small kitchen, avoiding the eyes of her crewmates.

"Nami-san…" Sanji whispered as he watched her walk out. _This was not going to be easy… On all of them…_

_

* * *

_

Nami sighed deeply and sank down onto her bed. At least now they knew. Was that not supposed to make her feel better though; not having to hide a secret from her crewmates any longer? The huge boulder in her chest had not crumbled however, but had even increased in size. Her chest seemed to be tightening with every single breath she took. The reactions of her nakama, she had mostly expected them. Yet the harsh tone in Sanji's voice, the completely empty look of his face. Even now, just remembering it, she flinched slightly. Of course, she couldn't be mad at him for what he had said and done, but she still could net help feeling somewhat pushed off.

Though she believed that she had the support of her friends. On Chopper she could certainly count. He would give her all the advice and information she needed. Luffy would be his usual self; he did whatever was best for his crew. The same went for Usopp. The long-nosed sharpshooter sure was a great friend when it came to it. Zoro and especially Sanji, however, she was not able to judge. As the two possible fathers of the child she was bearing, the situation for them was much more serious than for any other member of the crew. _If I have the child, who knows if they at all want to take responsibility? After all, nobody really wished for this situation_, she thought to herself and walked out onto the deck to get some fresh air.

The night was falling and the stars were shining brightly, unclouded. Their had become chilly from the lack of sunlight. But Nami didn't care; she had always been able to think best under the open sky. She leant down on the railing. And this was definitely a situation that needed much consideration. After all, she would be having a child. And when she had it… if she had it…

_That's right, if I have it… _she thought and brushed back a strand of red hair that the soft breeze had blown into her face. _Just four days left to make the decision, not exactly much time… Jeez… _The though of an abortion haunted her mind. But was she really willing to murder the child that was growing inside her, her child? Sure, it had not been conceived in love and she was barely out of her teens herself. And of course, the Going Merry wasn't the perfect place to raise a child, but things could be arranged after all, right? She was not exactly poor and she had friends to count on.

Speaking of friends…

"Oi, Nami-san?" Sanji smiled and stepped up to her, holding a blanket.

She looked at him questioningly.

"I figured you would be here", he said and gently put the blanket around her shoulders. "It's a little chilly, and you don't want to catch a cold, do you?"

Nami forced a smile, appreciating his concern. "Arigato, Sanji-kun." Thus she returned her gaze to the starry sky.

"Thinking, huh?" he stated plainly, following her gaze.

Nami nodded quietly, not looking at him. "There are some things I have to make up my mind about."

The cook gave a short nod and continued staring at the sky. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened earlier." He said and earned a surprised look from Nami. "I didn't mean to be so harsh. After all, it's not like you did anything wrong. I was just… somewhat shocked, you know?"

The redhead looked back at the starry sky and attempted a smile. "It's okay, Sanji-kun.", she closed her eyes, sighing softly. "I can't blame you for reacting like that."

With a short nod and the closest to a smile he could produce, the cook stood up and straightened his back. "I just want you to know that, no matter what choice you make, I'll try my best to support you."

At these words, he turned on his heel and started walking off, leaving behind a slightly perplexed Nami. About halfway down to the door, though, he stopped for a short moment and said quietly: "And please, Nami-san, get some rest. And don't worry too much, okay? We'll help you through this." Thus he went inside, closing the door behind him with a low, squeaking noise.

Nami forced a small smile and ran her long slender fingers though her flaming hair. _So he does care after all…_ she thought to herself and tugged the blanket a little tighter around her.

* * *

"Well?" Zoro inquired and looked questioningly at Nami, raising an eyebrow. 

"Hmm?" the navigator glanced up from the sea chart she was using to check the Going Merry's course. "Well what?"

"Well", the swordsman repeated plainly, "have you made your choice yet? You know we're reach the island by tomorrow now."

Nami did not answer straight away. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed softly. "Not yet. Not really."

"Then", Zoro started, soundly placing his feet on top of the table in front of him, "you'd better make it soon. We can't afford to waste any time."

Before Nami had any chance to react, Sanji jumped up from where he was reading in a book about the rarest types of edible fish and grabbed the swordsman by the collar.

"How dare you be so rough to my Nami-san? This is none of your business. It's Nami-san's choice and nobody else's!" The blonde cook was fuming, but Zoro simply grinned at him.

"You know very well that this is as much my business as it is hers or yours. It will affect all of us after all!"

With a clank, Nami's chair toppled over and she quickly but quietly walked out of the room, leaving the two arguing men to themselves.

Sanji stared at the door for an instance until her returned to his crewmate and tightened the grip on his collar.

"See what you just did to her? This all is hard enough on her already, even without you making your idiotic remarks!"

Zoro just shrugged and looked the cook in the eyes: "I'm right, though, and you know it. This is not just her business. This concerns all of us."

* * *

Nami pressed her back against the outer wall of the kitchen and closed her eyes tightly. From inside, she could still hear Sanji's yelling and Zoro's remarks. She just was not able to stand that situation any longer. Since she had given away the secret to her nakama, there had not been a single normal day; Sanji was constantly getting furious with Zoro, and at those times when there was, for a change, no yelling, there would be an awkward, uncomfortable silence. 

And although she was getting tired of all those remarks and reminders by Zoro about how the whole crew was involved in the situation, she certainly knew that he was right. Sanji and Zoro of course were involved the most, being the two potential fathers. But then, also, the rest of the crew would not remain unaffected if she decided to keep the child. After all, she was the ship's navigator and thus a very essential part of the crew. If she were to keep the child, she would not be able to give her fullest for the crew, neither before nor after birth. Actually, considering how many battles they had already fought and how many very most likely still to come, she would just be in their way, neither able to help nor to defend herself, yet constantly in need for protection.

With another deep sigh, Nami closed her eyes and grabbed her forehead. It was more by chance than intentionally that she listened in on the argument going on in the room she had just left.

"Just think of what it would mean for all us. One of us, as the father, of course would need to take care of her and the kid. Not just financially but in all other aspects as well. But it does not end up with only one of us having to give up his dream; this ship would lose its navigator", she heard Zoro state calmly. "Or do you think she'll stay on the ship once the kid is there? That would then mean the rest of the crew would have to find themselves a new navigator. And you should know damn well that, even though she's money-crazy brat, there's no better navigator than her out there. See what I'm aiming at? No navigator, no course, no reaching the destination, no One Piece."

Nami bit her lip. _He's right, _she thought bitterly, _this is not just about me. More about everybody else than about me…_

"But I'm sure we could find a way. I think Luffy would say the same", Sanji said, the quiver in his voice was audible even through the thick wooden walls.

Zoro gave a short, sarcastic laugh. "Just face it, Sanji. Life's not just all "lovey-dovey", you know? There are consequences to be considered. And in this case, they wouldn't exactly be trivial."

Sanji growled. "God, I hate to admit it, but you seem to be right." He grumbled.

So that was what they really thought, huh? She thought bitterly and hung her head low. _Can't blame them either, they're right after all… How could I be so stupid to ever consider it?_

She clawed the fingers of her slender right hand into her perfectly flat stomach, a single tear escaping from below the curtain of fiery-red hair.

So the decision had been made…

_...to be continued..._

_

* * *

a/n: You all saw it coming, didn't you? Ah, I'm so transparent--_

_I can't remember ever updating a story that fastOo First, thank you all for the nice reviews! They really helped me continue this. However, the writing still seems to forced, and I even when I read it, it still doesn't sound right to me. I just have no experience what so ever in writing One Piece fanfiction, so getting into the characters heads, especially in such a situation so unlikely for the series, is incredibly hard for me. So don't be surprised if you find the characters acting extremely weirdly. I think I might well continue this story, since so many of you seem to want me to, but I'm still not too sure about it. Probably because, apart from a very rough plan, I have absolutely no concept of the following chapters (apart from the one that would now be published next). Happy Ending, Drama Ending, what do you prefer? And who's the better 'daddy'? (this brings back memories of Zoro in a pink Apron..)_

_ And now a few words to my reviewers:_

_**Namibean**: Antlers? lol Very nice idea. But considering this is One Piece, it wouldn't even be unsual. Sca-reeOO  
_**mushi-azn**: You like my sentence structure? gasp Why thanx! As a foreigner studying English, I consider that a wonderful compliment)  
** Rune-Spirit**: I already am feeling better, thanx) Annoxeric, huh? Hmm that would explain those waists, after all..  
** Miss Goupil**: Never mind your English, I'm not a native English-speaker myself (as if you couldn't tell..) so I know what it feels like to be struggling with the language.  
** all**: Why she wouldn't be eating? Well, mental stress, of course. It does those kinds of things to you. Sure, it doesn't have the same effect on everyone. Some ppl stuff themselves with chocolate or chips whenever they feel stressed or nervous, but personally, I can't swallow a single bit of food. Same as when I write exams or wait for the announcement of imporant grades. My stomach will be growling for food all the time, but I just won't be able to eat for days. That's all there is to it) (Notice how Chopper tells her to eat cuz it's no good for her to "diet"? There goes my plot lol


	3. Second thoughts

**Chapter 3: Second thoughts**

Morning had finally come, setting an end to a night of restlessness, deep thought and the lack of sleep. Even though the red haired navigator had dreaded this day, she was grateful for the warm rays of sunlight driving out the hostile, chilly night's darkness. Today they would dock at the last island for the next few weeks, thus requiring Nami to make her decision on the current situation. And last night, she had made it. It had not been at all easy on her; all the time she had been troubled by thoughts of what her decision might result in. She just did not see herself as a mother yet; she was not the steady, motherly type. The way her life was right then, she was busy enough taking care of herself and her nakama. They constantly got themselves into great dangers. It was hardly the ideal environment to bring up a child in. She did not see herself giving up on her dreams and settling down just now. The only question was how her crewmates would take her decision. Would she be able to return to a normal life onboard the Going Merry?

Nami tightened her grip on the glass of milk and silently brought it to her lips. Her nakama, sitting at the table with her, were – more or less soundly – chewing on their breakfast. Sanji had yet again produced a culinary highlight, but Nami could not really savor it. She merely chewed on some warm, b uttered croissant because Chopper had insisted that she ate a little something before they would leave the ship. Now, the little reindeer was peeking at the navigator from time to time to make sure she followed his advice.

Nami let out a deep sigh and put down the now empty glass. Immediately, Sanji was at her side with a bottle of milk in his hand.

"Do you want some more, Nami-san?" he asked in a most gentle, soothing voice. He seemed, however, to be unusually tense.

"No, thank you, Sanji-kun." She replied lowly, trying to force a smile of reassurance for the cook. He gave a slight nod and, with a small frown playing on his forehead, sat back down on his chair.

Silence set in, only broken by Luffy's loud munching and slurping noises. It continued for quite a while.

_Geez, why can't they just talk, or fight, or whatever else they'd normally do! _ Nami thought to herself. _This silence is driving me crazy…_ She scowled and ran a hand through her hair.

"Anything wrong?" Zoro asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

Nami sighed. _This is it._

"Look, guys", she started, gaining everybody's attention, "I've made my choice: I'm not going to keep it." She stated plainly, gazing at her friends with a determined look.

Usopp and Chopper stared at her with wide eyes while the crew's captain simply stopped munching and looked around questioningly. Zoro closed his eyes and nodded silently; he had obviously expected this outcome. Sanji, however, seemed shaken and lowered his gaze to the floor. Keeping his eyes fixed at the wooden planks, he asked softly:

"Are you sure about this?"

Nami quickly looked at him. She just could not stand seeing him like that: all hurt and broken, and turned away.

"As sure as I can be", she answered calmly, "I just don't see myself like that, you know. And besides", she sported a false grin, "I'm a pirate, and a thief. There's no place for kids in my life."

Sanji nodded sadly and rose from his chair warily.

"Excuse me." He whispered and quickly walked out of the kitchen.

Nami bit her lip as she followed the cook with her eyes. How she hated to lie to him… To be honest, she was far from being sure about her choice. But at that time, it just seemed to be the only possible "solution". It would of course not be easy, but that was a sacrifice she had to make; for her future, her life, herself, her dreams, and in a way also for her nakama.

Under the somewhat shocked looks of her friends, she pushed herself up and turned to the door.

"We'll be reaching port in about three hours. So make sure you'll be all ready by then." Thus said, Nami stepped thought the door and out into the fresh morning air. A soft wind picked up and played with her red hair as she let her gaze glide over the vast ocean in front of her. The young woman gently placed her hands on her stomach, smiling ruefully, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sanji-kun…"

* * *

"Zoro, the anchor! Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, the ropes!" Nami commanded as the Going Merry came to rest in the small port. The sun had set high in the sky and was now burning down onto the crewmembers. Sanji grabbed one of the ship's ropes and pulled at it with all this strength, tying it to one of the poles. So did Chopper, having transformed into his most human-like form. Usopp, being the physically weakest of the three, tried his best, but in the end only succeeded with the help of the ship's doctor.

The cook wiped the sweat from his forehead and gazed at the small town which lay before them. He didn't believe that many visitors ever reached this island, but still he should be able to gather all the supplies they needed. Zoro and Luffy jumped down right next to him.

"We gotta go get some meat!" the captain yelled enthusiastically and stomped off for the village. Zoro shook his head, grinning, and followed his crewmate. Sanji however could not share their happiness. Again and again he had turned back to steal a gaze at his Nami when she was not looking. She seemed very tense and troubled. He wished he could talk to her and make her reconsider her decision, yet he knew it was not up to him to make a choice. He had wanted to come with her, of course, to spend her support and comfort while she was having the operation. But she had denied without even looking at him. Only Chopper was going to accompany her.

_I'll just have to be there when it's all over,_ he thought to himself. _I'll be there for her and help her get over it. _He knew that the whole issue would not be easy on her, and it would not be easily forgotten thereafter either. With a sigh, he pulled a cigarette from the package, lit it. The aromatic smoke always calmed him down; it was the only reason why he still kept up the addiction instead of just quitting it. Inhaling quietly, he watched as Nami and Chopper walked past him in the direction of the village, keeping up a low conversation. After a little while, the navigator turned her head back in his direction, locking eyes with the cook for an instant before turning back to the small doctor.

The look in her eyes bore itself straight into Sanji's heart and shook him deeply. He had not seen her dark eyes filled with that much sadness and worry since the incident back at Arlong Park. Sanji shook his head quietly and deeply inhaled the warm smoke. He just hoped that his Nami would get through all this; and that she would not be regretting this one decision for the rest of her life…

* * *

"This meat is gooooooood!" Luffy yelled, a toothy grin on his face. "I need more!"

Immediately, Usopp grabbed his plate to secure his food, but the captain had already gotten a hold of it and gulped it down.

"Whaaaaa Luffy, that was mine!" Usopp screamed accusingly.

Luffy just blinked and grinned back at him. "But it was soooo good, I just had to eat it. And besides, I'm the captain!"

"That's not fair, it doesn't matter!" Usopp retorted.

The two of them engaged in yet another long argument. It would, as always, get them nowhere anyway, as Zoro knew. Usopp would keep accusing Luffy, who would simply steal himself more and more food until something else drew his attention.

Zoro yawned, took another mouthful from the bottle of rum in his right hand and leaned back in his chair. _I wonder what she's doing now…_ Even though he did not show it on the outside, deep down his mind was still with the ship's navigator and the grave decision she was about to put into practice. He had tried to pretend that he did not care too much about the situation; but even if he were able to fool his nakama, he would never be able to deceive himself. The results of that drunken night some months ago had been troubling him ever since he had known of it. Of course he had been drunk many times before, yet he was not aware of having ever done anything like… _that_. After all, it was not at all sure that he was the father of Nami's child; it was just as likely that cook. Somehow, though, he could not see any of them being a parent as for now: neither Sanji or himself, nor the expectant mother, Nami, herself.

However, he had to admit that, even though the idea of possibly being a father at such young age sent a chill down his spine, he found it an interesting thought. Having a little kid of his own certainly meant a lot responsibility, but he had always loved challenges. And the idea of a little son or daughter whom he could teach all his techniques and skills brought a smile to his lips. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be a "dad" after all. Yet even if he were the father, it was not his choice alone. He had to talk to Nami, now, before she would put her decision into action.

The green-haired swordsman put down the bottle, rose from his chair and turned for the door.

"Hey, Zoro? Whatcha up to?" Usopp asked, for a moment interrupting the argument with the captain.

"Just going for a walk", Zoro answered without looking back and set for the door.

"Eh? Zoro … taking a walk?" Usopp blinked incredulously. "Waaaaaaaah Luffy, that was mine!"

The hungry captain had used the distraction to seize the remaining contents of Usopp's plate and empty them into the bottomless pit he called his stomach.

Thus the argument started all over again. With a sarcastic grin, Zoro walked out of the bar. _Those guys just don't seem to get what's going on…_

_

* * *

_

"Would you like anything else?" The shop assistant asked politely, adding a handful of fresh vegetables into a large paper bag.

Sanji let his eyes wander over the goods the small shop offered. They would be needing lots of supplies since the next island again was a couple of weeks away from them.

"I'd like 3 kilos of those", he said and pointed to some delicious looking red onions, "and another 5 of those."

"Very well", the shop assistant nodded, smiling and gathered the foods the cook had indicated.

_Hmm, what else would we need…_ Sanji thought to himself. His gaze fell upon a bowl of obviously perfectly ripened, scarlet-colored strawberries. He smiled. _These are perfect. I'll make a nice strawberry parfait for my Nami-san. _A dreamy look appeared on his face as he thought of the redhead he adored more than any other being of god's creation. His Nami-san…

Within split-seconds, his expression grew dark and grave.

_Nami-san… Right now she's at the doctor's, waiting to have her baby removed… _Sanji knew he had promised to support her no matter what her decision would be, yet he could simply not get used to the thought that their navigator would have an abortion. Certainly, as Nami was still in her late teens, a pregnancy would put her under a great strain, especially under the given circumstances: she was the navigator on a pirate ship whose whole crew had astronomically high bounties on their heads, her home and the people she could turn to for support were far away, and on top of all of that, it was not even sure who the father of her child was: either Sanji himself or their nakama, the swordsman Roronoa Zoro. All those reasons made her decision understandable.

Yet even though it was a child conceived after the excessive use of alcohol rather than the 'product' of a loving relationship between the expectant parents, it still had its right to live. Sanji balled his hands to fists at his sides. Yes, it was Nami's decision to make. However, he felt that he had to speak to her about it again, to talk it through. And if she still wanted to have the pregnancy terminated then, he would at least be by her side. She should not have to go through it all by herself. But he would have to hurry if he wanted to make it in time.

"Mister? Hello? Are you all right?" the shop assistant asked, eyeing his customer curiously.

"Y…Yeah, I'm okay", Sanji answered quickly, shaking his head to pull himself out of his reveries.

"I have some urgent business to attend to", he said, put some money on the counter and continued: "I'll pick this stuff up once I'm done." Before he had even finished the sentence, he was already running through the door, leaving behind a baffled salesman.

* * *

"Miss… Nami, right?" The doctor stood up from her chair and gently bowed to her patient.

"Ya…" the red haired girl answered hesitantly and softly closed the door behind her.

"Please, take a seat", the elderly woman offered, smiling.

Nami did as she was told. Staring down at her hands in her lap, she shifted uncomfortably.

"Well then", the doctor started and grabbed a notepad and a pen from her table. "You are here for an abortion, correct?"

Nami nodded, still staring down at her hands. _Let's get this over with fast…_

"So let us begin with the necessary check up. On the basis of its results I will then perform the termination", she walked over to a stretcher and gestured towards it, "Now if you would please lie down here and lift up your shirt so I can examine your abdomen."

Again Nami simply nodded, walked up to the stretcher and carefully lay down on it. Her cold, shaky fingers gently brushing over her stomach, she pulled up her shirt and tightly closed her eyes.

* * *

_Man, it has to be somewhere around here. I'll be late if I don't find that place some time soon._

Even though Roronoa Zoro could undoubtedly be called one of the greatest swordsmen of all seas, his sense of direction broke all records in the opposite direction. As a little child, he had often gotten lost and this state had not improved, even with all his training and experience.

"Hey, Zoro!" the swordsman looked around himself for the source of the call. From behind him came Sanji, the ship's cook, walking towards him at a fast pace.

"Yo", Zoro answered and gave a short nod.

"Let me guess, you wanted to talk to Nami, right?" Sanji stated. "But now you got yourself lost and can't find the way?"

Zoro snorted in return and shook his head. "No, I… Ah damn, you're right…" he finally admitted. "I guess you know the way, huh?"

Sanji smirked at his nakama. "Of course I'll take you there. No need to ask."

The swordsman scowled. "Right… We've wasted enough time talking then, let's go."

The blond man nodded in return. "All right, this way!"

Thus said, they set off, running, for the outskirts of the little village. After a while, Sanji turned his head to glance at the swordsman, then directed his gaze back forward.

"Yo, Zoro", he said, his breathing hardly faster than usually, despite the speed they were running at.

The green haired man gave a snort, thus letting him know he had his attention.

"If… if _you're_ the dad, what would you want Nami to do? I mean, you'd have to take responsibility, too…"

"Listen", Zoro interrupted his companion sharply, "I don't want to talk about it right now. This is not the time. So shut up and let's find Nami."

Sanji gritted his teeth. Oh how he would love to give a remark and start another one of those fights he found so much pleasure in, but rather he liked it or not, he knew that Zoro was right: this was not the time to be asking questions or indulging in arguments.

* * *

The rest of their run was spent in silence until:

"There, that's gotta be it!" Sanji said, pointing towards a larger house surrounded by tall trees. In front of it stood Chopper, the reindeer, talking quietly to an elderly lady. A few moments later, the door of the house opened slowly and a red-haired girl stepped outside. She bowed shortly to the lady, exchanged a few words with the little reindeer and then slowly set off in the direction of the island's port.

_Damn, that was Nami… We're late… _Sanji cursed himself inwardly and broke into a run for where Chopper was talking to the woman, Zoro right at his heels.

Right before the two men reached their nakama, the lady bowed her goodbye to Chopper and went back inside. Upon this, the little reindeer spotted his nakama coming towards him.

"Ss…Sanji, Zoro, what are you doing here?" he asked confusedly, looking at the two men in front of him.

"We came to talk to Nami", Zoro stated plainly.

Sanji looked after the young woman walking off in the distance. "But I guess we're late…", he commented with a sigh and turned back to Chopper. "That lady you were just talking to, she was the doctor, right?"

Chopper nodded in reply, his gaze alternating between Sanji and Zoro. "Mhm, they just got done…"

_Just got done…_ Those words echoed in Sanji's ears, making his insides twist and turn, brought his mind to the edge of sanity. He wanted to scream out, release his frustration. But he realized it was hardly the right way.

"I'll go talk to her", he stated calmly and was about to walk off to follow their navigator when he felt a strong hand grip his arm.

Zoro had grabbed him and, shaking his head, shot him a fierce look.

"Damn it, idiot, let me go!" Sanji yelled, trying to yank his arm free.

"No I will not let you go", Zoro retorted, biting his tongue to keep from unleashing his enormous vocabulary of swearings and curses onto the cook.

"Zoro's right", Chopper said, pleadingly looking up at Sanji. "She needs some time alone right now. There'll still be a lot time to talk later."

"All right all right", Sanji spat and yanked his arm from the swordsman's grip in resignation. Why did it always have to feel so darn annoying when they were right?

Zoro diverted his gaze from the cook and looked after the woman who was now merely a small dot off in the distance. With an inaudible sigh, he slowly shook his head. _Poor girl…_

_...to be continued..._

_

* * *

a/n: Ah.. it felt so awkward to write this chapter... and I don't have the slightest idea why... What made this one especially hard was that it had hardly any "actions" but rather thoughts and feelings, which is hard when you are having trouble getting into the characters' heads'_

_However, I hope you still like it. If you do or not, I would love if you left me some reviews to tell me what you liked, what you hated and what parts you would like me to elaborate on in the future chapters. As for those, I have certain small scenes I want have in it, but I am still looking for inspiration. So if you have any ideas or wishes, don't hesitate to tell me!_

_To all my reviewers: thank you so much for leaving me those comments. It helps me get over my laziness and actually start writing. Now some "individual" words:_

Rune-Spirit: Well, you should be able to tell about the abortion thing after this chapter What I'm gonna write about? Well, let me surprise you (if I am capable of doing so).

mushi-azn: Thanx Yes, Zoro as a dad is certainly a scary idea, but in a way also cute If I were in Nami's place and Zoro would turn out as the father, I wouldn't know whether to cry, laugh or just smack him upside the head'

Namibean: Soap opera, hehe nice idea' Well, that drunken night.. I guess blackouts can be pretty bad' never had one myself, I gotta admit, but some of my friends claim that they have no memory whatsoever from several nights after the exessive consumption of alcohol Would be my personal nightmare to have something like that happen to me thoughOo

gothywolfie: Shocker? Yes, certainly And for it's first b-day, the poor little one would get it's first mini katana' I wouldn't wanna be that kid's momOo

CeltiCrimson: I know they haven't been talking about the father thing alot (they do a bit in this chappie), but it's just that, in a way, with the pregnancy being in its very beginnings and the discussion of the termination, the question was somewhat pushed to the back of their minds. It's a thing about priorities, which is sorta hard to explain. Besides, I have no experiences of being a possible father, naturally, (and mothers usually know the know that the kid is theirs) so this is all some sort of speculation. And having Sanji and Zoro on rampage is a scary thought... So I guess their common sense told them to just try and stay calm and wait for the storm'  
As for getting paler than Nami already is.. It is possible, trust me. I myself am about as tanned as a piece of chalk, but when my circulation feels like dieing on me, I break the limits of pure whiteness'  
And thanx for the beta-reading offer, I will consider it


	4. Getting Accustomed

**Chapter 4: Getting accustomed**

"Luffy, Usopp! Stop fooling around and help me get the supplies into the storage!" Sanji commanded dryly upon jumping onto the deck of the Going Merry.

"Hai!" the former two crewmembers echoed in unison. They quickly picked up some of the bags the cook had put down and followed him in the direction of the storage room inside the small pirate ship.

"Poor devil", Zoro thought, looking at where his nakama had just disappeared to. "Hasn't spoken a single word apart from those orders ever since we got back."

During all that time, the blond man hat not only avoided conversations but also any sort of eye contact with his nakama. After they had talked to Chopper at the doctor's, he had calmly walked back into town, picked up his previously chosen supplies and then had quietly returned to the ship.

Certainly, Zoro knew very well what Sanji had to be feeling at this very time. He even had to admit that these sorts emotions were trying to grab control of him as well. Yet so far, he had been able to suppress them. For a foggy thought, a vague feeling had somehow formed in his mind. Well, time would provide him with an answer, the swordsman though, and he was able to wait.

Accompanied by the clanking of his katana sheaths meeting the wooden planks, he sat down on the deck, resting his back against the strong mast. He was about to drift off into deep slumber as the clicking sound of high heeled shoes tore him back into a wake state. There was no need for him to turn into the direction of the sound to figure out who its origin was.

"Oi, Nami", Zoro greeted her calmly.

The footsteps stopped abruptly. The navigator had obviously mistaken him for being asleep and thus had felt unwatched.

"Oh, Zoro…" she said, her voice almost falling into a stutter. "I didn't know you were back already…"

Zoro leaned his head back against the mast and half closed his eyes.

"We got back a bit ago. The rest's in the storage taking care of the supplies."

As if on cue, a loud rumbling sound erupted from the inside of the ship. It was followed, only seconds later, by angry yells from the cook directed at his clumsy crewmates. Still they didn't seem like the 'normal' tantrums Sanji was known to give anybody who messed with either the food or the kitchen. The navigator seemed to recognize the difference and frowned.

"He's been a bit off… since we got back, you know." Zoro explained, looking toward the source of the previous commotion.

Upon hearing those words, Nami let out a small sigh and, looking intently at her feet, absent-mindedly put her hand to her stomach with a pained expression.

"Anything wrong?" Zoro asked, noticing her motion. It seemed as though he was actually concerned. "Does it hurt?"

Nami looked up at him for a moment, only to then resume staring at her naked feet.

"Actually… I…" she started, and for a moment she seemed to be considering whether to go on or not. Yet she never had to make that decision.

"You didn't do it." Zoro stated plainly. Apart from its form, what he had said was no question.

Nami looked him in the eyes, somewhat shocked, yet, with a deep sigh, returned her gaze towards the wooden planks below her, her hand still resting on her stomach.

"I couldn't…" she confessed heavily, slowly shaking her head. With a sigh, she rested her back against the door to the inside of the Going Merry. "When I was at the doctor's and she started talking about the baby, how it would be developing and what stage it is at right now, I just couldn't do it anymore."

There was a short silence and the two nakama exchanged looks.

"I'm sorry…" Nami whispered.

The swordsman got to his feet, took a step toward her and – however much it was unlike him – gently lay his large hand on her shoulder.

"It's all right", he said in his deep voice, nodding slowly, "It was your decision. No need to say sorry."

Nami blinked up at her tall companion in surprise. She had obviously expected him to react differently. Still, she was grateful for his understanding, or at least acceptance.

"But I guess I should tell the others now, huh?" Nami said, a rueful smile playing on her lips. "It wouldn't be fair to keep it a secret from them."

Zoro shook his head.

"No, you just go and rest. We need our navigator in perfect condition. I'll take care of the rest."

"H…Hai", Nami replied, still rather surprised at Zoro's reaction to the whole situation. With a grateful half-smile, however, she looked at her nakama for an instance before turning around, opening the door and walking off toward her room.

So his feeling had proven to be right, Zoro thought to himself, smirking contently. Certainly, the situation was now again far from simple and ideal, yet maybe this was for the better. And he was positive that none of the other crewmembers would condemn their navigator for her decision.

Either way, he would find out very soon.

His heavy boots hammering on the planks, he made his way into the kitchen where the others were currently stocking the last shelves with the food that had been acquired in town. As Zoro entered, Usopp and Luffy turned toward him, the captain's mouth stuffed with approximately four apples, as far as you could tell from the bulges in his cheeks.

"Yo, Zoro, t'was a quick nap", Usopp commented with a frown. Once Zoro had gone to sleep, it usually meant he would be out for a couple of hours.

The swordsman quietly walked up to the bench and sat down.

"I wasn't taking a nap", he said calmly "I was talking to Nami."

The ship's cook stopped dead in his tracks, one hand around the sugar pot he had just set onto the top shelf, the other still clutching his cigarette.

"How is she?" Usopp asked carefully, voicing Luffy's thoughts, who was still trying to swallow his apples, all at once.

Zoro leaned back against the wall, resting his head on his arms and closed his eyes.

"Pretty much just like before."

Sanji finally awoke from his trance and turned around to face his nakama.

"So she's not in pain or anything, hm?" he exhaled slightly and closed his eyes. "At least some good news."

In the other corner of the small room where piles of medical equipment had been arranged, Chopper stared intently at a wooden plank right in front of him; his inner struggle reflected in his anxious eyes.

Zoro cracked one eye open and looked at the small reindeer. _Figures…_

"She told you." He started calmly.

Chopper jerked up, immediately coming to his feet. Yet as soon as the shock of being caught went by, he sank back onto the floor and resumed staring at the planks.

"Told him what?" Sanji inquired, hardly being able to control his flaming temper when it came to people keeping secrets from him that concerned his lovely Nami-san.

Zoro looked him directly into the eyes for an instance then returned to leaning back and closing his eyes.

"Told him that she's keeping the baby", he said, and added, to ease understanding for a flabbergasted Sanji "She never had the abortion. Couldn't do it."

"That's… that's…" Sanji gaped, at a complete loss of words and literally dropped onto a chair.

Usopp was sharing Sanji's surprise, only the captain was grinning widely, finally have finished off his fruits.

"Nami will have the baby now? We'll have a cute little baby to play with?" the optimistic head of the crew was ready to start bouncing up and down ecstatically.

"That's what it looks like", Zoro answered, nodding.

"Woohoo, cooooool, a baby to play with, a baby to play with", Luffy repeated over and over again in a sing song.

And while Usopp had already recovered enough to be arguing with his captain that babies were not something you could play with whenever and however you wanted, Sanji was still frozen to the spot.

"Then… what should we do now? She'll need someone by her side now", the cook jumped up and was about to start walking to the door when a strong hand got a grip around his arm. Zoro had stood up and was now holding him back.

"No, not now. Give her some time to herself, she needs to sort things out." Zoro commanded in a strong voice.

"Idiot, let go off me. Just that you don't have any feelings whatsoever for what could possibly be your child and the woman who is bearing it does not mean others don't!" Sanji yelled, yanking his arm free from the other man's grip.

"You should be careful about what you say", Zoro said calmly, his eyes, however, glaring at the cook threateningly. "Don't dare me… Leave her alone, for her sake. Showering her with mushy compliments would do her no good."

Thus said, he stopped glaring at the cook and turned around to return to the deck to finally have the nap he had intended to have earlier. When he had reached the door and was just about to open it, he stopped once more, and without turning around, directed on last sentence at his nakama.

"And, Sanji… different people might actually handle feelings differently."

* * *

Nami closed the tab to stop the flow of hot water and exhaled heavily. She inwardly thanked Chopper for the great piece of advice. This morning when she had woken up from a short sleep, the nausea and dizziness had been extremely bad and kept her from taking in any food whatsoever. So Chopper, naturally worried about his patient, had advised her to take a long, hot bath.

And that was exactly where she was now: in the Going Merry's small bathroom, buried deep into the foam and hot water she had filled into the bathtub. The warmth was incredibly relaxing and even after this short time already relieving the unpleasant side effects of her pregnancy.

The pregnancy… She sighed heavily and let her hands and gaze travel down to her stomach. It was still perfectly flat, not yet showing any sigh whatsoever of the changes which were currently going on inside of her. If it hadn't been for the nausea, it would be as if nothing of that had ever happened; that she had never gotten pregnant after a drunken night by one of her nakama. Sure, if she had had the abortion the day before like she had intended to in the beginning, it would have all returned to normal. At least on the surface. But she had decided against it. When she had heard the doctor talk about the small life growing inside of her, how it would develop, when it would start moving, when it would first open its eyes, when it would start sucking its thumb even in the womb… She just hadn't been able to do it. All of a sudden she had felt a strong connection to the tiny being inside of her.

And still it was all so unreal. No signs that, superficially, indicated anything else than a simple stomach flu. She had tried to deny it, in the beginning; had tried to make herself believe that she would be all right after a week of rest and some pills. Chopper of course might have simply made a mistake. Those things happened. But not this time. Examining her, he had made no mistake. She had confirmation now. In just a little more than another six months, she, Nami, the Going Merry's navigator, a young woman of barely 19, would be a mother.

But still she had no idea. Not only that she was entirely inexperienced in dealing with children, and the thought of a young life completely entrusted into her care and her responsibility scared her out of her wits. Even worse: she did not even have the slightest idea how to get that far at all. Would she be able to get through the whole pregnancy? Would she at all be able to give birth at her young age? At least, however, she had the comfort that her nakama would stay by her side no matter what would happen. And Chopper, the ship's doctor, would take care of any medical problem they might encounter in the progress.

Still hundreds and thousands of doubts and questions remained. Nami sank deeper into the hot, calming liquid and closed her eyes. She dearly hoped she would be able to find answers to all those questions in time. Many things would have to be sorted out, plans had to be made. Where would she give birth, and how? Would she be able to continue traveling with her nakama or would she have to be left behind? Would she have to endure it all alone or would the child's father stand by her side? So many questions, so little simple answers. If she had had the abortion the day before, none of these problems would have needed to be solved. Despite them all, however, she did not regret her choice.

She would make it through, one way or another, with or without help, with friends or by herself. She would find her way. With the first genuine, even if small, smile in many days, she slid deeper into the hot water and enjoyed the ease and tranquility of the moment.

* * *

Nami into the kitchen, drying her hair with a towel. The morning baths had become a daily ritual since Chopper had given her the advice a few days ago. And they luckily did a good job at easing the annoying side effects she had to endure.

"Good morning, Nami-san! Please take your seat, I have already prepared you a delicious breakfast!" Sanji greeted her, smiling warmly and placed a nicely decorated plate of food at her place on the table.

Luffy, busy inhaling yet another bowl of what looked like cereals, gave her a slight wave to say "hi". Usopp and Chopper had already finished their meals and were working with some of the doctor's equipment. The two of them shot her smiles, chirped "Good Morning, Nami" in unison and went instantly back to their work. Zoro, still at the table, had already gone back to sleep and was now snoring soundly.

Just like any other ordinary day. As if nothing had ever happened…

Zoro was his usual self, apart from the fact that he always seemed to be having an eye on her. Luffy was constantly excited about the baby and kept asking her and Chopper all sorts of strange questions, some none of them could answer. Usopp and Chopper behaved more or less normally. Sanji, though showering her with the usual amount of compliments and always making sure that everything was just as she wished, reacted incredibly irritable towards their nakama. There were now daily outbreaks of his extreme temper; anything could set them off. And today, Usopp was to be the first victim of hurricane Sanji. And it was all triggered by a simple question.

"Sanji? Could you borrow me one of those knives of yours? Mine isn't sharp enough."

Thus hurricane Sanji took off without the slightest forewarning and erupted into loud thunder that shook the small ship.

"How DARE you even think of using my precious, exquisite knives for your low work? Someone like you would not even be able to handle them properly! Excuse me, but I need some fresh air!"

As suddenly as it had started, Sanji was out of the door and left his startled nakama. Usopp however, the target of the cook's wrath merely chuckled to himself and returned to his work.

"What the heck was that?" Nami asked no one in particular, blinking at where Sanji had just left. She had witnessed his recent outbreaks, yet they actually seemed to be increasing in strength.

Usopp was still chuckling to himself and smirked. "Well, that's what withdrawal does to you…" she said, rather to himself than in answer to Nami's question.

"Withdrawal?" the navigator asked, frowning at the sharpshooter. "What withdrawal?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Usopp looked at her for a moment before turning back to his equipment. "Sanji's given up smoking. He quit the night he found out you were keeping the baby. And he hasn't touched a single cigarette since."

Nami was startled. Strangely, she somehow must have overlooked Sanji letting go of his habit. Just like she had never actually noticed Sanji smoking since it was such a natural part of him, she had never noticed him quitting. Smoking calmed him, he'd told her once. When he felt stressed out or unnerved, he would smoke a cigarette and relax from whatever bothered him. And now he was giving it up, for her; or actually for the baby she was carrying.

It was a really nice thing to do, Nami though to herself and smiling, took a sip of her freshly made orange juice. Yes, she would find her way. With nakama like hers, anything was possible.

* * *

Hurricane Sanji had calmed down after a few minutes and now, on the deck bathing in the warm sun of the late afternoon, he was serving small refreshments for everybody. Usopp was once more telling Luffy and Chopper once of his many adventure stories; and with every exaggeration, his audience grew more and more eager for him to go on. Today's story seemed to somehow involve Santa Claus, a huge sky train and thousands of fairies riding on red and white sugar canes. At least that was what Nami had overheard. For she was not concentrating on the long-nosed sharpshooter's tale but on a recent newspaper. It proved, however, less interesting as she had hoped, for half of its articles were pure gossip with about as much truth in it as Usopp's Christmas-themed story. With a sigh, she folded it back up and placed it on the small table beside her.

Leaning back in her chair she lazily looked around the deck. To her right, Zoro was engage in single-fingered pushups, heavy weights resting on both his shoulder blades. His tanned, muscular body was glistening in the sun with tiny pearls of sweat. The rhythmic up-and-down movements of his upper body felt hypnotizing.

Nami suddenly let out a gasp of surprise. Zoro's rhythmic motion stopped as he looked at her.

"Anything wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nami shrugged. "I don't know. This just felt sorta weird." She said and put a hand to her stomach.

This gained her the attention of all her nakama. Chopper, after all the ship's doctor, walked up to her and looked at her curiously.

"Where was it, and what did it feel like?" he inquired.

Nami moved her hand and looked at Chopper, thinking. "It felt like… like a fluttering, I'd say."

"What is it? Is there anything wrong?" Sanji asked, rushing up to Chopper.

The little reindeer smiled and shook his head.

"No, no, not at all. She's just feeling the baby's first tiny movements, that's all."

Nami looked at Chopper, frowning, slightly surprised. So this was what it felt like?

"It moves? Cooooooooooll I wanna feel!" was what Nami heard before her captain's head suddenly appeared on her stomach, neck stretched out.

Nami was so surprised by his sudden move that she was not sure how to react. Usually, she would just smack him upside the head, but she guessed that this time, she would be just a little more patient than usually and let her captain enjoy the spectacle.

His head lay completely, ear pressed up against her shirt, until Nami let out another tiny gasp and Luffy's smile broadened.

"There it was again", Nami commented.

"This is sooooooo cool, Nami", Luffy said, his head snatching back onto his body, looking at his navigator happily. "Now you need to eat much much more meat so the baby can be strong and kick harder, so you can really feel it!"

Nami sweatdropped. "I don't exactly know if that's what I want…"

Chopper chuckled at his captain.

"The baby is still tiny, so you can't feel the movements that well. But once it grows, it will become stronger and eventually you'll even be able to see when it kicks."

While Luffy was cheering at the prospect of what he would be able to observe, Nami face-faulted.

"Now that sure sounds like found…" she commented sarcastically and sighed.

"Can I… can I feel it, too?" a soft voice from her left rang to her ear. It was Sanji. Never had he dared to just touch her like Luffy had, no matter how much he wished to be able to do so.

"Sanji-kun…", Nami said, and smiled at him, "of course. This should be a moment for the potential fathers, too, right?" she grinned.

Sanji nodded, smiling happily and carefully placed a hand on her stomach.

"Nee, Zoro… what about you?" she asked, turning to the right and looking at the swordsman.

"I…" he gulped, not exactly comfortable with the situation. Yet he knew that Nami allowed no denial. So he, as well, carefully placed his hand on Nami's perfectly flat stomach, just next to Sanji's. He would never have admitted it, but he had never before in his life been more nervous than in this very situation.

"There goes another one…" Nami announced.

The two men involuntarily tensed up as a slight, fluttering movement ran thought the skin, barely strong enough to feel it.

Sanji's face grew into a smile, his eyes wide in surprise. He really could feel it. The first signs of the small life inside his nakama. Even Zoro could not help but grin to himself. This was truly amazing. Both men were so lost in their thoughts about what had just happened that they completely forgot their hands still placed on her stomach.

"Guys… that's enough…", Nami stated plainly and sent her fists swinging.

With a loud clank, fists met heads and Zoro and Sanji fell to the ground on the sides of her chair.

Luffy immediately broke out into laughter, as usually enjoying every sort of commotion that went on onboard the ship.

Usopp and Chopper, however, backed away quietly in unison, fear painted across their faces.

"Still our good old Nami, huh?" Usopp mumbled, sweatdropping.

* * *

a/n: Finally a new chapter. I can't believe it really took me two months to get my behind up to get working… And to think I actually typed this chapter in a couple of hours divided onto two days… I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting for so long! I promise I'll try to be faster with the next one. After all, I'm on semester break now and thus hoping to get some more work done'

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It is probably not the most original stuff I've ever written… I added in a very few funny parts, too, since I did not want to have the serious situation completely take over. I know most characters are actually OOC, but I'm trying my best in a situation like this'

Please, if you want to do me a favor, review! I really live off of them (creatively and motivationwise speaking)

Now a few words to my previous reviewers:

-**Runespirit**: Yes, this is a triangle. I think you could call it that. And yes, I am intending to bring in more ZxN and already have some nice scenes in mind for that. I have already tried to add more Zoro in this chapter, but with Sanji always jumping in and showering Nami with his compliments, any man showing his feelings less obviously just turns somewhat invisible'

-**nikuwadoko**: Oh thank you so much I just love those compliments Even if I'm worse at dealing with them than Chopper '

**-Magus Black**: Think long and hard, definitely. As Nami points out, there are still many plans that have to be made and many questions to be answered.

-**mushi-azn**: I think that is exactly the essence of One Piece, nakama. I agree with you. It's like a family, just not quite the same (me loves the Family chara song) And thank you for the compliment about portraying their emotions: it really is the most important part for me, so I am very critical with it.

-**Namibean**: I just can't see it, a little kid crawling around the ship… But as I said, ways can be found. Some of them may even lie beyond the Going Merry in the end… About the Sanji and Zoro trying to catch her part: so true… I almost felt like I was betraying them when I wrote it, even though I know how it would end… I just can't help but feel with the charas…

-**CelticCrimson**: about the question who should be the father: well, in the beginning I had my mind set, but now I am completely open minded again, so at the moment I am just as clueless as all of youOo (does that make me a bad writer? Oo) Btw, you don't have to apologize for writing long reviews, I really love them

-**Elnora**: Thanks for complementing my writing, but English isn't my first language, honestly. I'm just trying my best;)

-**kittyluver**: Have I decided? Nope, not yet, I'm sorry I'm almost sure that I will let you know in the end, but that's still quite a way to go, so we'll both have to wait for the solution lol

**To all other reviewers **that I could not name here due to the lack of time: Thank you so much for reading and giving me your opinion. You guys and your nice reviews are what keeps me writing!


	5. Side Effects

**Chapter 5: Side Effects **

Denial would be futile beyond this point.

Nami sighed as she went through her trunk for the eighth time that morning in a fruitless attempt to find a fitting shirt. Now in the late third month, the pregnancy had become clearly visible; her stomach had inflated in such a short time that it still startled Nami. Certainly, her belly was still far from being considered 'big'; but no matter which of her clothes she had tried to put on, they seemed to be uncomfortably tight around her middle section.

Nami let out another exasperated sigh as she slammed the trunk shut and bitterly picked up a lose white shirt she had placed on the bed earlier. She would only use it as a nightshirt, under normal circumstances. The current situation was, however, far from normal. She would have to get herself some new clothes at the next island. That, though, was still almost a week at full speed and this her last fitting shirt…

"Guess I gotta ask one of the boys to lend me something…" she sighed. Just who? Luffy's wardrobe was well restricted to his red shirt and jean pants, something similar could be said about Usopp. And Zoro… well, he seemed to be owning nothing more than his white shirt and dark pants and stole whatever else he needed, just when he did need it. And it was not like he had ever taken laundry seriously… Nami shuddered at the thought of what kinds of microscopically small lifeforms were living and breeding inside the fabric of his sweaty shirt at the very moment.

_That leaves me with only one option,_ Nami thought to herself as she quietly walked out of her room and stepped onto the deck.

"Sanji-kuuuuuuun?" Nami called, a grin on her face. In an instant, the blonde cook was right next to her, as if he had just warped himself there.

"Haaaaaai, Nami-swaaan!" he answered, almost saluting.

"Sanji-kun, I was wondering if you could help me out with something…" she asked sweetly, smiling at him. He would never deny to help her.

Sanji's heart skipped several beats, and his grin seemed to be spreading from ear to ear.

"Of course, Nami-san!", he yelled, overjoyed, "Whenever my beautiful princess is in a bind, her prince will come to save her right away!"

The red-head chuckled. "All right, all right, no need to go that far…" she put her hands to her hips, looked him straight in the eye and demanded in a strong voice: "Sanji-kun, I need some of your shirts."

"Wh-whaaaaat?" Her words raised the cooks body temperature to a feverish degree within split seconds, and had he not given up smoking, his cigarette would have surely fallen from his lips. "But… but what do you need my shirts for?" His eyes turned heart-shaped as he imagined the countless reasons why she would request some of his shirts, HIS shirts rather than anybody else's…

Nami sighed, getting impatient with her nakama.

"Well, Sanji-kun, you see…" she started, feeling somewhat embarrassed about talking to him about such a topic. She wished she could have just barged into the men's room, gotten into his trunk and taken whatever she felt seemed fit. But that would have been just too rude. And even Nami had to be polite at times. "It's just that, with the baby…" she continued but was suddenly interrupted.

"Ah, I see", he smiled, knowingly, sparing Nami the embarrassment of finishing the explanation. "Then let's go and see what I can do."

The young woman smiled at him gratefully. Sanji only replied with another extremely wide grin and led her to the men's room where he immediately started rummaging in his trunk. The longer the blonde cook dug among his clothes, the more surprised Nami was; he surely had many clothes, not quite as many as she had but still a considerable number, for a guy.

"Hmm, let's see…" he said, his voice trailing off while he fished out several of his shirts. "This one should suit you very well… and this one, the color perfectly matches your hair! And this…"

Nami snickered as Sanji piled more and more shirts of all shapes, colors and fabrics on the ground next to him. These would certainly last longer than just a week.

"I think that's about it." Sanji stated with a frown. "It's not much though…"

Nami shook her head quickly and started picking up the shirts and neatly placing them over her arm. "It's all right, Sanji-kun, this is really more than I need. Arigato! "

"Anything for my sweet Nami-san", Sanji replied, grinning broadly. And while Nami was already exiting the guys' room, Sanji was still kneeling next to his trunk, hearts flitting around his head once more. In the back of his mind, he was already thinking about all those things he could be doing with the shirts once she would give them back. He would never wash them ever again, that was for sure. And one or two of them might actually make quite comfortable pillows…

* * *

Another week had gone by surprisingly fast, considering that it had been completely void of the usual adventures. Now, however, they were about to have a distraction from the daily routine: they had anchored in the port of the next island on their route. For Nami this meant to finally be able to buy some fitting clothes for herself, though she had gotten quite fond of Sanji's big shirts as they were surprisingly comfortable. For others like Luffy, it just meant adventure and the prospect of…

"Fooooooooooood!" the captain yelled as he jumped down from the Going Merry and, without second – and maybe even first - thought, ran off into the direction of the city.

"L-luffy, wait!" Usopp tried, yet knowing that, once his captain had set his mind on something, he would not let go of it. Especially not if that something was meat.

"Ah, guess I'll guard the ship, then", Zoro said pleasantly, yawning.

"But, Zoro", Chopper spoke up, "you should go with Nami."

At those words, Zoro, as well as Sanji and Nami shot the little reindeer astonished glances. The swordsman, however, feeling the threat of somebody robbing him of his undisturbed sleep as the Merry's guard, did not seem at all pleased.

"Why? That stupid cook's going with her", he said, pointing at Sanji over his shoulder, "There aren't any marines around as far as we know, so even he should be able to handle it."

"What is it", Sanji started, anger sparkling from his eyes. "looking for a fight, marimo?"

"Sanji… Zoro…", Chopper tried, panic in his voice, staring at the two mad men in front of him. "Please…"

"Grrr… guys…" Nami glared. "That's enough." Her temper had once again gotten a hold of her as she sent her fists swinging towards the two rivals. It was her way of settling an argument. And with these two it worked perfectly fine. "Now listen to Chopper, will you?"

The two men nodded silently, large bumps forming on the backs of their heads.

The little reindeer cleared his throat and tried once again. "Both of you should go with her."

"And that would be because…?" Zoro tried his luck, only to be rewarded with another knock to the head by their navigator.

"Let him finish already…" Nami grumbled, slowly but surely losing whatever tiny bits of patience she had left.

"Well, first of all", Chopper resumed, looking for Zoro to Sanji and back, "the more protection the better. You never know what could happen. And second, it is important for the bonding."

"Bonding?" Sanji asked incredulously and reacted just in time to be able to dodge a direct blow to his head.

Chopper nodded nervously. "Mhm. It is important for expecting parents to spend as much time together as possible to build up a bond not only between themselves but also with the unborn infant. It's very important for its development even after birth."

"As much time as possible? Oh boy…" Zoro sighed heavily, grabbing his forehead to drive away the suddenly occurring headache.

Right next to him, Sanji had been sent into "love mode" and was muttering all sorts of colorful praises for 'his Nami-san'.

The object of the cook's affections simply fulfilled her duty and once more let her knuckles meet heads again with a heavy sigh. "As much time as possible, huh? With those two? This is gonna be trying…" she muttered under her breath, rubbing her temples.

* * *

"Hmm… that store looks nice, we'll go there first!" Nami commanded, pointing to a clothing store across the street and instantly walked into its direction.

"Hai, Nami-san!" Sanji said grinning.

"Beats me", the swordsman shrugged indifferently.

Deciding that ignorance would probably be the easiest way of handling this situation, the navigator simply pretended to not notice what was going on between the two men and kept walking. Her strategy seemed to work out, for, just a few minutes later, the three of them found themselves in the small clothes store. While Nami went over rack and started rummaging through the small selection of shirts, Zoro slumped down on one of the chairs set up for the customers. Shopping had, of course, never been one of his favorite hobbies. Especially if it was for clothes. He had always gotten whatever he needed whenever it was needed, without having to go and buy it. And he preferred it that way.

Sanji, on the other hand, stood right next to Nami and excited pointed out all the advantages of whichever shirt she had just picked. Whether it suited her hair, her eyes, her skin… anything seemed to be perfect for her in his eyes.

Nami was very well aware of this fact as she stood in front of the full length mirror after changing into an azure blue polo shirt. While the young woman turned and stretched in all directions, critically observing every single fold that appeared in the light fabric around her middle section, the ship's cook clasped his hands and spluttered out compliment after compliment. But Nami knew that, no matter what kind of clothing she would put on, no negative word would ever come out of his mouth. So to get a true answer, she would have to go different ways…

"Nee, Zoro", she asked and turned around to the swordsman, grinning "what do you think?"

In an instance, all color was drained from the otherwise so tanned man and he swallowed hard. Was it just him or had one of his dumbbells been caught in his throat?

"Come on, Zoro", Nami tried again, "don't have an opinion?"

Zoro gulped. "Well… fashion's never really been my thing…" he muttered. But he knew he would not get out of it that easily. Next to Nami, Sanji was smirking, ready to witness the swordsman's slow and painful death.

"Aww now now, Zoro, just tell me the truth, it can't be that hard."

_The truth? Is this woman crazy? I stood better chances defeating Mihawk back at the Baratie than surviving the woman's wrath if I told her what I really think…_

Inwardly, Zoro prayed for his life. He could not die yet, he still had things to fulfill! He even had the absurd wish that he had actually listened to the cook's endless rantings about 'his Nami-san's' beauty. Maybe, if he just concentrated hard enough, something would come to his mind…

He frowned, and closing his eyes, prepared himself for the worst as he pressed out: "The… the color suits your hair!"

In front of him, Sanji face faulted, obviously disappointed at the turn of events.

Nami grinned, turning back to the mirror to admire herself. "Hmm I think you're right. I'll take this one."

The swordsman collapsed in his chair, all air drained from his lungs, relief flooding through his veins. He had done it. He had survived once more.

Yet as he was ready to relax and was already leaning back in the chair to savor his triumph, his eyes widened: the redhead had already picked up another several dozen shirts of all styles and disappeared into the changing room. He looked around in panic. The store was crowded, so flight was no option.

"Pray to your God that he'll give you another of those lines", Sanji commented grinning.

And for once, Zoro actually followed his advice.

* * *

"So did you get everything you needed?" Usopp asked, looking up from his plate.

Nami nodded and pointed to the dozen shopping bags next to Sanji's chair. "Yup. These should be enough for the beginning."

Zoro snorted, however kept himself from voicing his thoughts. He was grateful for having survived the trip and was not willing to jeopardize his life already.

The sun was already setting and the crew of the Going Merry had finished their individual shopping sprees and met up in a tavern near the harbor. Luffy had already buried his head deep in his huge plate of spaghetti topped with meatballs – though it would probably be more correct to call it meatballs with a few spaghetti woven in – and was now inhaling them soundly. The rest of his crew was trying their best to secure their own plates and keep them out of reach for their captain.

"Is there anything wrong?" Chopper turned to Nami, realizing that she had let go of her food and was now rubbing her stomach with both her hands.

Upon this, her other crewmembers immediately stopped eating and looked at their nakama, concerned.

"Nothing to worry about, it just hurts a little. Probably just a cramp or something", the young woman answered, still massaging her belly.

"Are you sure Nami-san?" Sanji shot her a worried look.

The navigator nodded in reply. She hated to be treated like a little child. After all she wasn't suffering from a disease or anything. She had gone through worse things before in her life. At least that was what she liked to tell herself.

"But I would still like to do a quick check-up when we get back on board, okay?" Chopper asked. He was, after all, the ship's doctor and thus always concerned about his patients' health.

While Nami was still trying to assure the little reindeer that she was feeling fine and that there was thus no need for further medical examination, Sanji and Zoro noticed a group of, most likely, pirates at a near table. Seeing the mugiwara's navigator had obviously caught their interest; and now they were staring at her lustily, nudging each other and exchanging foul language.

Sanji's insides were burning. Nobody was supposed to look at his Nami-san in such a degrading way.

"Yo, anything wrong, shitheads?" he spat, tensing up his muscles, while Zoro set his thumb to his beloved katana and exposed several inches of the deadly glistening blade.

Said "shitheads" were seemingly not too sure of their fighting abilities, or simply intimidated at the sight of the infamous Roronoa Zoro. Whichever the reason might have been, they quickly turned away from the strawhat crew and focused on their mugs.

Zoro silently re-sheathed his katana and turned back to his plate. He sighed inwardly, glad that they could avoid to fight. As long as their pregnant nakama was around, it was best to stay away from unnecessarily dangerous situations. And even though he himself would have been grateful for the additional work out, and would never – under normal circumstances – run from a fight, he vowed to do whatever would be necessary to keep their navigator away from any needless risks.

* * *

Chopper put away his stethoscope while Nami sat up and pulled her shirt back over her belly. The ship's doctor had been so persistent about doing a check up on the navigator that she had simply had to comply.

"So how's it look?" she asked, eyeing the little reindeer impatiently.

Chopper smiled at the young woman. "It was most likely just a cramp or something, after all it's been a long and tiring day. At least I couldn't find anything wrong.", he answered, visibly relieved.

Nami grinned and jumped off the bed.

"Just as I thought." Before she walked through the door to return to her work, however, she turned around once more and smiled at the doctor. "Thank you, Chopper." Thus she made her way out of the room back to her desk, all the way accompanied by a low sing-song of a little reindeer with the inability of accepting and handling compliments.

With a sigh, the young redhead fell down onto the chair at her desk. She slowly reached for her fountain pen and an unfinished map right on top of a large stack of paper. Yet the day had been so strenuous that she could barely concentrate on the fine lines of black ink on the pure paper. Nami sighed as she stared at her work. At this rate, she would never get it done. But with her pregnancy advancing, it grew harder and harder to concentrate. It now took little physical and mental exercise to completely tire her out. And even all the sleep she got seemed to be hardly able to compensate and reenergize her body and mind. She shuddered uncontrollably at the thought of what it would feel like towards the end of her pregnancy.

But she could not allow herself to slack off. Sure, Chopper had told her to get enough rest and to relax from the day's stress. Yet she could still get more than enough of all that later. First, she would have to get at least some work done.

With another sigh, she dipped the pen into the ink bottle and carefully set it to the paper. After a few inches, however, her hand seemed to be turning heavier and heavier; so did her eyelids. Another few minutes later, Nami's head sank down onto the desk and her grip on the pen eased.

_I'll just rest my head for a second, _Nami though to herself, _then I can get to work. Just for a second…_

_

* * *

_

Zoro yawned. Those night duties sure were boring, especially since he was not allowed to take a nap. His boots clanked soundly on the wood as he made his way to the kitchen. A drink would be perfect just now, he thought as he stifled another yawn. As he had just passed the entrance to Nami's room however, he heard a low cluttering sound that made him stop in his tracks.

What could that have been? Maybe she was still working, despite what Chopper had told her. It would not be unlike her, after all. When he was about to continue for the kitchen, he sighed and turned around. Well, it could not hurt to go and check. After all, you never knew.

Walking as quietly as he could, he made his way to the navigator's room. He carefully knocked on the door: no answer. Even on his third and fourth knocks, the room stayed completely silent and Zoro decided to take his chance and dare enter even without permission.

He quietly opened the door and stepped into the dark room. The candle had almost gone out; its flickering flame hardly enough to light the room. Upon stepping further into the room, Zoro could make out a tiny figure hunched over the desk. He smirked and shook his head. She had fallen asleep over her map. On the ground next to the table lay her fountain pen. She must have dropped it, making the noise the swordsman had heard from outside.

He stepped closer to her and lightly touched her shoulder. Yet the young woman did not even stir; she was in a deep slumber. And Zoro was certainly not going to wake her up; he knew better than to dare that, he had learned his lesson…

Looking at the hunched over body for a few moments, he made up his mind. It would not be good for her to sleep like this.

Carefully, her placed his strong arms around the navigator's slender body and picked her up, cautious to neither hurt her nor – which would have the worst consequences for him – wake her up. The swordsman slowly walked over to her bed and gently placed her on the soft cushions. The young woman still slept soundly, completely unaware of what had happened.

"That's right, you better not be waking up to this…", the swordsman muttered under his breath as he pulled the bed sheets over his nakama's body.

After another short glance onto the sleeping navigator, he turned around and left for the kitchen, a sigh of relief escaping his lips.

He would, however, most likely have been in less high spirits, had he noticed the small grin on his nakama's face.

* * *

_a/n: Ummm... sorry... gomen... tschuldigung... I don't really know how to excuse myself for not updating in such a long time, for you already know all the reason: busy with college, busy with college, lack of inspiration, busy with college... Not as imaginative as I should be, huh? ' I meant to update this a long time ago, but, well, see the above reasons for the delay' Also I have just handed in my application for a US university for spring semester of 06, hoping I will be able to spend a semester abroad at their faculty. Now I'm just hoping to receive a positive answer. Please wish me good luck'_

_And now, again, a few words to my reviewers:_

_**Namibean: **Thank you so much It means alot to me to receive positive feedback from you, since I love your stories and consider you a great writer!_

_**Vulpixi Misa: **You like drama? Good Cuz the drama's not over yet._

_**Gothywolfie: **Yes, it should be considered a crime to leave babies or toddlers within Luffy's reach... And the naming-scene is a pretty good idea, seeing how Nami sucks at naming.. ("I call you... eyelash!" "Your name is... scissors!")_

_**Magus Black: **Yup, doctors are evil grins The father thing is indeed getting a bit complicating curls her eyebrow and ponders_

_**Bevin: **Hmm even though you might not be reading this, I will still add it. I am grateful for your criticism! I even have to admit I do somewhat share your opinion on the two major points you discussed. Just one more word on your final thing, about how women could miss their periods and not notice: it does happen, trust me. Especially if you have a hectic lifestyle, changing surroundings etc._

_**Illusion Of A Lunatic: **I kept them in character? Oo umm cool... I am actually trying to balance between Sanji and Zoro, but having Sanji always jump at every possible situation of helping Nami, it is at times hard to shine a light onto Zoro. _

_**to all others: **I'm really hoping I won't disappoint anyone with the endingOo Since it might not turn out as everybody wishes for.. ( - drama queen). Also I am trying to focus more on the nakama aspect of One Piece, meaning the deep feeling of family, and even more than that. But of course, being with two (extremely hot, if I may add') guys like Zoro and Sanji, romantic scenes can hardly be avoided I myself haven't actually set my mind to whether I am pro ZoroxNami or SanjixNami. Both pairings have aspects that simply make you love them. If I were Nami, I'd take them both o   
_


	6. Musings and Monologues

**Chapter 6: Musings and monologues**

The red-haired navigator let out an exasperated sigh as her stomach growled once again, for what seemed like the hundredth time in no more than a few minutes. Nami scowled. As if the morning sickness and constant tiredness had not already been enough, once she had entered the fifth month of her pregnancy, Nami's appetite had suddenly multiplied. Chopper had of course assured her that it was perfectly normal; that the small being inside of her was simply demanding more nutrition to continue its growth spurt. But still, even though they were quite expected, the changes still startled the young woman. With every new movement of her unborn child, every new side effect, every inch her stomach grew, it hit her again with full force: the realization of what was currently happening to her. Sometimes she was able to forget. Whenever she felt comfortable enough with herself, it was almost as if nothing had ever happened. Yet each change violently reminded her that all denial was indeed futile.

And another one of those reminders had just hit her once again. She had been trying to ignore it for a few days already. This indescribable longing. It kept her awake at night, constantly lingered in her mind, making it impossible for her to concentrate on anything at all. Yet the more she tried to repress it, the stronger the desire grew. And if she would not give in any time soon, it would gain complete control over her.

_Hmm almost 11… he should be in the kitchen by now… _she quietly thought to herself. With another sigh, she carefully got up from her chair and set off towards the kitchen.

She had been longing for it for so long already; she just could not wait any longer.

Nami blew all her self-control to the wind as she opened the door to the small kitchen and looked at the surprised cook.

"Sanji-kun, could you please do me a small favor?"

She grinned as she saw the happy expression on the young man's face. He would not deny her request, that was for certain.

* * *

Usopp and Zoro stared at their navigator, expressions of disgust and disbelief alternating on their faces. _She could not be serious about this, it was just…_

"Gross…", the marksman muttered, wrinkling his absurdly long nose.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing gross about it at all!" the redhead answered, frowning at her two nakama.

The crew's captain tilted his head to the side, shoving the 13th onigiri into this mouth – without having swallowed the previous twelve, and after considering Nami's statement for a while, nodded in agreement.

"It all looks the same in the end anyway." He commented with his muffled voice, grinning, and thus showing off a front of rice balls rather than his teeth.

Zoro wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Yeah, but… tangerines with molten cheese?" he stared from Nami to her plate and back.

"Jeez, what's your problem?" Nami grumbled and took a large bite of the orange and yellow mass on her fork. "See? It's great!" she commented the taste, and grinned at the others while chewing on the questionable culinary experiment.

"Ahhh Nami-swaaaaaaan… I'm sooo glad you like the taste", the blonde cook was happily dancing around the small kitchen "if there is anything else you would like, I will make it for my goddess in an instant!"

Nami simply smiled and nodded in reply, still chewing on her food while her crewmates could still not believe the sight in front of their eyes. Zoro listless pushed away his plate and snorted. His stomach was now performing acrobatic stunts; and a foul taste crept up his throat.

"This is just… ack…", he let out a gagging sound in lack of any other word better fitting to describe such a sickening feeling. "But I guess it's normal, too, eh?" he added, looking at the small reindeer next to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Mhm", Chopper nodded with a smile, "These cravings usually set in around the fifth month. The combinations may look strange, but it is actually only whatever nutrients the baby needs."

"More strange dishes to come then… great…", he sighed, rubbing his temples while trying to ease the nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach. He would either have to start getting used to constantly new disgusting smells and views in front of him, or just find some other place to eat. Otherwise he would easily starve within the next few weeks.

Luffy, having completely emptied his own plate – and that of Zoro certainly – now had his mind set on a new target. Carefully, slowly stretching his arm, his fingers crawling forward on the table, he reached over to the navigator's plate and was ready to grab a piece of her strange dish when a searing pain suddenly ran through his hand.

"Oooooooowwww Nami…", he whined in his high pitched voice.

The navigator, noticing his attempted theft, had nailed his hand to the table with her fork.

"This is mine, go eat your own food!" she hissed at him, bending over her food protectively.

While the crew's captain caressed his punctuated hand, pouting, the other nakama simply snickered at the scene.

She acted like a cat protecting her kittens, Zoro thought with a grin. The only difference was that her kittens were nothing but a dish that looked (and smelled…) like the greatest culinary disaster ever that nobody but a pregnant woman could ever want to eat. Yet with a smirk towards his still pouting captain he quickly corrected his opinion. Well, pregnant women and a certain gomu ningen wearing a strawhat.

* * *

Nami sank back into the pillows and soft cushioning of her bed and uttered a small sigh. It had been another very long day; and though there had been nothing to do but the usual duties of cartography and navigation, it had been incredibly strenuous. Once again. 

It was just unbelievable how even small things could easily tire her out those days. She would find herself dozing off while reading a book or even in the middle of her work. And Nami hated it. Not being able to do as she pleased whenever she pleased annoyed her enormously.

She moaned softly as she shifted under the covers to find a more comfortable position. Carrying around such an unusually large stomach considering her tiny frame had earned her a constantly throbbing pain in her back. It was not like she was not able to bare pain; even in her early childhood she had experienced and endured many hardships other people would never meet in their whole lifetime. And even though this pain seemed small and ridiculous in comparison to all that was past, its pure existence added to her growing annoyance.

But there was hardly anything she could do about it. Chopper had advised her to take rests every once in a while and to lay down rather than walk around, but that was only to prevent it from becoming worse. And constantly swallowing pain killers or the like was simply out of question. It could possibly harm the small being inside of her. Her child.

Nami smiled at the thought of the tiny human and gently placed her hands on her growing abdomen, softly rubbing it. This was her own child; her son, or her daughter. The further the pregnancy progressed, the nearer the predicted birthday drew, the more she found herself musing about her small offspring. No matter how much the situation startled her, made her nervous, and even frightened her; she could not help feeling a growing bond, and an increasing curiosity.

What would her child look like? Would it have her face, her hair? Or would it come after its father? It was all possible; red hair, blond, green, brown eyes, black eyes, curly eyebrows… The navigator snickered at the thought. Well, some possibilities should rather remain possibilities. But their outward appearances were not the only thing the child could receive from whichever of her two nakama the father was. Both men were incredibly powerful, had great determination, loyalty and an astonishingly strong will to survive. Of course there was more to each of them, so many aspects she valued about them.

And still, knowing she had all the support she could possibly ask for, she would have wished for her child to be born and raised under different circumstances. She had never really planned the whole "family-thing", as she liked to call it, but she had never even come across the idea of not being sure who the father of her child would be. A child should be born into secure circumstances. It should have its mother and father and be able to grow up in peace. That was what she had wished for when she had still been little. Her own childhood had been haunted and ruined, the child inside of her broken by that despicable merman. As a child, Nami had never been bothered much by the fact that she did not live with her real parents. After all she had found a loving and devoted, even though unconventional mother in the Ex-Marine Bellemere. She could not have wished for a better parent than her. On the day when Arlong had come to Cocoyashi and taken her stepmother from her, cruelly murdered her in front of Nami's very own eyes, a large part inside of the girl she had been was crushed. Within a matter of minutes the life as she had known had been taken from her, without any reason at all, leaving her hurting, grieving, hating, wishing for revenge for all those years. All that time, all the futile attempts of murdering the man who had split her tiny little heart into thousands of pieces, she had endured it. She had fought to live on…

"I chose to live on for you, Bellemere-san", she quietly spoke to the picture on her bedside table with a smile, "I'm sorry I was always complaining back then, making life even harder for you. But in reality…­", she paused, closing her eyes "I could not have wished for a better mother than you, Bellemere-san. I wish I was able to tell you all this, I wish you could see everything now; how Cocoyashi flourishes, and how your daughters have grown up to be strong, stubborn women just like you", she snickered quietly.

"I wish you could see me now. Though you would probably give me the tantrum of a lifetime, on how irresponsible I am, and careless… I'm going to be a mother myself, now, you know? I know, I'm still young and all, but I know I can make it. Remember how you told us that nobody ever believed you could take care of a kid when you first found me and Nojiko? You didn't care about them and gave me and Nojiko a wonderful family. And just like you did with us, I will manage with my own child. It will become a great kid, you'll see."

With a kind smile playing around her lips, the young woman softly caressed the framed picture and then sank back into the cushions.

Yes, she would manage, there was no doubt about it.

* * *

_12.367… 12.368… 12.369…_

Beads of hot sweat ran down the swordsman's muscular arms as he swung his heavy weights high above his head in the cold night's air. Night duties were perfect for workout, thus he had gotten used to spending those quiet, lone hours steeling his muscles. Yes, indeed perfect. Nobody to disturb or interrupt him, or even worse, watch him. Night directed his whole attention towards his training.

That night, however, his concentration showed great flaws.

"Kuso…", Zoro cursed under his breath as he lost count of his movements for the third time that night. He hated it when that happened. Constant, thorough and concentrated training was an integral part of his way of becoming the greatest swordsman. But that night, it seemed to be futile. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate and focus his mind on his movements only, he would not succeed.

He put down the weights with a grunt and sat down right next to them, resting his back against the mast. Something was haunting his mind lately; and the swordsman knew very well what it was.

Ever since he had learned that Nami was expecting a child that was possibly his, concentrating had become more and more difficult. Whenever he used to be alone, all sorts of thoughts and questions would start to form in his mind. Even though he knew that their navigator needed all the support she could get, the idea of probably being a father in just a few months made him feel extremely uneasy; frightened him, even. He had never really known his father, and even his mother had left him when he was still little. So he had no idea how to react to the situation. When he was young he had basically lived at the dojo Kuina's father ran and spent most of his time training with his swords. It was not something you could call a normal childhood.

He wasn't sure if he wanted his child to grow up the way he had. He was not even sure if he wanted to have children in the first place. His goal in life had been becoming the greatest swordsman of the seas for as far as he could remember, and having a family did not exactly fit well with this style of life.

But still, the more he thought about the child that was possibly his, the more he actually felt curious about it. It certainly would be fun to have a little son of his own, to teach him his techniques and watch him grow stronger. And if it was a girl… well, who ever said girls could not handle swords? After all, Kuina had been very skilled, to say the least…

He quietly grinned to himself. Yes, he could imagine himself being a father. Still it was only a possibility. There was still that cook… Suddenly an image flashed through his head: dozens of small, red haired boys with curly eyebrows, wearing pink aprons, hitting and kicking him while he tried to sleep.

Zoro shuddered.

"I need a drink… a strong one…"

* * *

Sanji turned around in his hammock once again, now staring at the ceiling. How he hated not being able to fall asleep. His night would be short again, for, right at sunrise, their enthusiastic captain would wake up from wherever he had fallen asleep and start yelling for food. The cook sighed once again. 

"Guess I'll just ask Chopper for some sleeping pills tomorrow…" he muttered under his breath. Usually, whenever he was not able to sleep, he would go outside for a bit, and smoking a cigarette or two would do the trick. Sometimes he dearly wished he had not quit smoking. Yet all those times he simply reminded himself why he had done it: it was for the good of his Nami-san and her baby. And he would make it for them. No withdrawal could be strong enough to make him put the navigator's unborn child in trouble.

A smile crept across his face at the pure thought of the red haired beauty. She was beautiful to him even now, probably more beautiful than ever. After all, she was carrying what might be his child. The thought thrilled him; having a child with Nami was more than he would have ever wished for, and now it was probably turning into reality.

Yet no matter how happy the thought made him, doubts still surfaced from the depths of his mind. Was he at all able to be a father? A good father? Sanji himself had never known his father; the only father-like figure had been Zeff, the owner of the Baratie. Yet their relationship had been rough, more like the bond between a mentor and his student, and hardly as emotional as that of father and son. His child was going to have a different life, though. It would grow up with both his parents, and would not have to go through all the hardships he had had to endure in his early years. He would do his best. Even if the child should not be his, but that 'shitty swordsman's'. He would always be there, even though it would be hard, harder than anything he had ever experienced.

But life did not always go the way you wanted it to. And when it didn't, you would have to accept it; and move on. For everybody's sake.

* * *

Chopper perked his ears and sniffed in some air. It smelled differently all of a sudden, for some reason. He carefully put away some vials he had been using and walked over to the table where Usopp was busy telling Luffy an adventure story – strangely involving live alarm clocks and 20 feet tall blood hungry teddy bears – while Sanji was busying himself with preparing drinks. 

"Ano…" the little reindeer spoke up.

"Hn? What is it, Chopper?" Sanji turned around to him, skillfully balancing various bottles and glasses.

"Do you know where Nami is?" he asked.

Sanji blinked in surprise. "Ah… She should be outside, on watch duty. Why, anything wrong?"

Chopper shook his head and ran off to the deck.

It took him some minutes to find the navigator. She had fallen asleep in the back part of the Going Merry, map still in her hands.

The small doctor carefully tapped her shoulder.

"Ano… Nami…"

The young woman stirred and finally cracked her eyes open, looking at the small creature in front of her. She was still quite drowsy; and thus it took her a few moments to realize where she was. Quietly muttering under her breath, she pushed herself up.

"This really has to stop…", she sighed, rubbing her eyes.

"N-Nami…?" A tiny voice reached her ears.

"Oh… sorry, Chopper", she had almost forgotten her small nakama "what is it? You look worried?"

The little reindeer looked worried indeed: a frown was written on his forehead and his 'hands' were brought up to his chest.

"I don't know, the… the air suddenly started smelling differently", he stuttered, "I was just wondering why that could be…?"

Now it was the navigator's turn to frown. She rubbed her temples and gazed up at the sky, studying the clouds, then closed her eyes to receive a better perception of the winds and various air currents.

"Damn…", she exhaled, paling visibly.

Chopper looked up at her expectantly, his face growing more and more worried.

"A storm… a storm's coming…", she said to answer the unuttered question. "And if we don't move, we'll be right in the middle of it…"

Chopper gasped, almost panicking.

"Get Zoro and Luffy and set the sails!" she shouted while running to the front deck.

"Sanji-kun!" the door opened immediately and the blond cook emerged. He knew that tone in her voice, and it never meant anything good.

"Sanji, grab the helm, starboard! We gotta get away from here as soon as possible!"

"H-hai, Nami-san!" he replied and ran out of sight.

Just as suddenly as the quiet ship had sprung to life, dark clouds had started gathering overhead, crackling with unreleased electricity. Rain started pouring down heavily onto the Going Merry as its crew made every effort possible to move the vessel from its previous route. After a few moments, the first sounds of thunder struck Nami's ears as she fearfully looked up at the pitch black sky. This was quite a large storm. A storm she should have noticed far beforehand.

The ship made a hard turn to starboard. Nami almost lost her footing, but in the last moment was able to get a grip of the railing. Her gaze shot right back up to the clouds; another round of thunder rolled through the air. In that very second, a lightning bolt came crashing down, right to the spot where the Going Merry had been only a few moments ago.

"Phew… that was close…", Usopp stated, knees shivering.

The whole crew had gathered on deck, watching the spectacle, witnessing their narrow escape from nature's wrath.

Luffy and the others only nodded in agreement to the marksman's statement.

Yet Nami stared down at her hands.

"Too close…", she pressed out between gritted teeth and balled her hands into fists. "I should've know… Just what kind of navigator am I…"

She slammed her fist down onto the railing with all her might.

"N-Nami…" Chopper stuttered, "I… it's not your fault, you just…"

The woman spun around to face her furry nakama.

"Of course it is, it damn well is!" she spat angrily and ran off, supposedly to her room.

The little reindeer sighed.

"What's wrong with Nami?" Luffy asked, obliviously as always, tilting his head to the side. "Why did she just run off?"

"She's mad at herself, dummy", Sanji said, resisting the urge to knock his captain upside the head. Not that he never did…

"Hn?"

"She thinks it's her fault that we got that close to the storm. Because she fell asleep on duty." Chopper explained to his rather slow captain.

The boy simply frowned. "But it's not her fault. It would have happened to any of us."

Zoro sighed from where he leaned against the mast.

"Well, I don't think it's that easy to her."

* * *

a/n: yaaaaaaaaaaawn It's like Oo.. 2:41am right now, and I actually intended to go to sleep early tonight.. Oh well, bad luck. Anyway, please forgive me any mistakes that are in here, my eyes are a bit blurry so I might have missed some. 

This chapter wasn't that easy to write; it actually felt a bit unnatural. But I'm hoping I didn't get the mugiwara's too far OOC...

Not that much humor in this chappie either, just a few bits and pieces, and not really much romance either. But that's cuz I finally wanted to add in some more drama (so the ending won't come as too much of a shock). Yet I promise there will be some cute scenes in the next chapter! Title.. I don't know yet.. heh..

60 cough reviews? OMG...I can't believe ppl are still reading and even reviewing.. You put up with my writing for more than 5 chapters? You're awesome!

neway, now a word to my reviewers (gee, thank you all so much you're still reading, I'm baffledOo):

**gothywolfie: **I take advice from all authors, age doesn't matter! And since I know you're a good writer (love your ZoNa fic), I'm thankful for any sort of suggestions.Btw: ya, I'm personally hoping on duplicate shirts, too.. shivers

**Illusion of a Lunatic: **Eh thanx. The boom confused me looks around for bombs set to kill crappy fanfic writers

**Santoryu3blades: **Here's the update grins And thanx!

**Alex: **Thanx, I'm really glad you like it! And thank you for your good luck wishes (is there a thing like that?), I'm trying to be positive :D

**Bevin: **Naw, it wasn't harsh. Though I might not seem like it, I understand and appreciate criticism:D ... Green hair and curly eyebrowOo .. well, who knows what they were doing...

**Zorro's girl: **Sanji is protective cuz he's always right there when Nami needs something, that's just his way of showing his feelings. Zoro, however, is more the type to keep his feelings to himself. He's not really "whatever", but he prefers to look like it )

**Celtic Crimson: **True, that would have been nice, but I didn't feel like torturing poor Zoro that much D I'm so glad you liked the chapter!

**Lightning-Cloud: **Ooooooooh, thanx for all the praiseOo can't handle compliments very well

**Shadw: **Yeah, it is scary, and cute D

**mushi-azn: **What should I say? dances around happily wait a sec.. you're THE mushi? The K-F mushi? Oo I'm honored bows

**Magus Black: **Oh yes, they should, but I think Nami is scary enough even when she's not pregnant. I'd rather want to stay on good terms with her


	7. Setbacks

**Chapter 7: Setbacks**

Nami slammed the door to her room shut and, with a deep sigh, sat down on her bed. How could this have happened to her? She thought, running a hand through her red hair. She was supposed to notice phenomena like that storm long before the others could. She was the ship's navigator, after all.

Yet since she had fallen pregnant, her reliability had decreased rapidly, or so she thought. She kept falling asleep all the time; and her concentration was turning so bad that now, when she had finished a page in a book, she often had to reread it simply because she had already forgotten the content.

She sighed once more and leaned back against the wall. That condition was unacceptable for any navigator. And after all, the Going Merry was a pirate ship; two of its crewmembers had ridiculously high bounties on their heads. So any of them had to be in perfect mental and physical shape in order to avoid or at least to be able to escape the largest share of trouble.

But the way things were, she was far from any perfect shape whatsoever, and thus not only a risk for the ship but also for her nakama.

"Just what was I thinking…", she cursed herself through gritted teeth, eyes closed.

"Oi, Nami!" a shrill voice suddenly sounded from the outside; and the fraction of a second later, her captain bounced into her room.

The navigator gazed at him in surprise, yet once she regained control of her facial features, she shot him a threatening look.

"What do you want?" she hissed. "Did nobody ever tell you to knock before you enter somebody else's room?"

Luffy blinked at her.

"Nani?" he frowned, obviously seriously thinking of an answer to her rhetoric question.

The young woman rolled her eyes at her slow captain and repeated, annoyed:

"What do you want?"

"Hm, talk!" he declared, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Nami raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Luffy was not the kind of person to talk a lot. He usually prefect action over words.

"It's not your fault!" he stated plainly.

Now it was time for Nami to blink and utter a low:

"Nani?"

"Zoro said that's what you think", Luffy tried to explain himself.

That Zoro…, Nami thought, inwardly cursing the swordsman, couldn't he just keep his thoughts to himself for once?

"Because I didn't notice earlier, we almost got fried by lightning bolts! So of course it's my fault!" she replied.

"It's not!" Luffy simply shot back.

Nami sighed and unconsciously rubbed her temples to drive away an upcoming headache.

"Luffy, you don't understand…"

"I do!" he interrupted her with a determined voice. "And it's not your fault. It could have happened to any of us!"

The young woman let out a small, sarcastic laugh.

"Yeah, but I'M the navigator, not anybody else."

"Nami", Luffy started, his facial features softening, and stepped closer to his navigator. "You're my nakama, our nakama."

"So what?" she yelled back at him, her voice coming out harsher than she had intended.

Luffy did not seem to notice this however, or simply did not care.

"Nami", he continued, "we are nakama. We help each other. I can't cook, use swords, read maps or make medicine. But when somebody needs help, I do my best to help. That's what being nakama is about."

Nami looked into the captain's eyes, surprised despite better knowledge. After all, when it came to it, he did know exactly what to say, however slow he might be.

"But still…", Nami started, looking away from Luffy and gazing down at her swollen stomach unintentionally.

"No buts!" Luffy ordered with a serious face, but then sprouted a huge grin. "Come on, Sanji's making snacks!"

Thus said, he turned around and jumped off toward the kitchen.

Nami couldn't help chuckling to herself while she slowly pushed herself off of the bed and followed Luffy.

* * *

"Ah, there you are, Nami-san!" Sanji beamed at his object of endless affection. 

Nami, returning his smile, went over to the table and carefully sat down on the bench. The cook was instantly by her side and placed a small plate piled with various deserts in front of her.

"Oi, you feeling better now?" Usopp asked hesitantly, since Nami's temper had been quite unpredictable lately.

"Mhm", she nodded in reply, smiling, and supported her head with her arms.

"Of course, I talked to her!" Luffy beamed, proud of his achievement and started digging into his plate.

His male nakama eyed him incredulously, half a dozen eyebrows raised.

"Always good for surprises, huh?" the cook said to himself, smirking.

Luffy grinned, yet whether he had really understood would probably remain a mystery.

"Oi, Nami…", Zoro started suddenly, catching the navigator's attention, "dry yourself off, you'll catch a cold." While saying this, he threw her a white towel.

Nami blinked. She had almost forgotten. It was still pouring outside like it had been earlier, and Nami had received her share of the water. Tiny droplets of rain still ran out of her hair and dropped onto the flat surface of the table, producing low, rhythmic sounds. She must have forgotten, being that upset, she explained to herself and started rubbing the towel through her fiery hair.

Then she felt it: a strong kick from inside her stomach.

Again, and again, and again.

Nami sighed and started rubbing her stomach.

"You always wake up when everything's over, hm?" she thought aloud, a small smile playing on her lips.

Her nakama looked up from their plates and gazed at her questioningly.

Nami shook her head and smiled.

"It's nothing. Somebody just woke up and wants to give me a hard time now." She gently patted her stomach.

Instantly, Luffy scrambled over to where Nami sat and lightly smacked her stomach, much to the navigator's surprise.

"Oi, you in there, be nice and give Nami some rest, she had a hard day!" the captain commanded seriously.

Within seconds, laughter erupted in the small kitchen of the caravel.

"Oi, Luffy", Usopp pressed out between bursts of laughter, holding his stomach "it can't understand you, you know."

Luffy scowled at him.

"Of course it can!"

"It's all right, Luffy", Nami interrupted the two men, chuckling, "I've already tried that, and it won't listen. Ever. Likes to keep me up at night."

"But Nami-san", Sanji spoke up with a worried look, "you have to do something! You need your sleep!"

Suddenly, Nami's eyes widened in surprise; yet the reason was not Sanji's suggestion.

"It… it stopped", she said calmly.

The blond cook beamed at her once again, and their captain sported a huge grin.

"Of course, because I said so!"

"Aho!", Sanji spat at Luffy, knocking him upside the head. "That's not why!"

Still rubbing his head from where Sanji had hit him, the rubber boy pursed his lips, pouting.

"That hurt!"

"But he's right, Luffy", Chopper spoke up suddenly, thus drawing every person's attention to himself. "I think it was because of Sanji's voice."

Zoro cracked one eye open and looked from the cook to the small reindeer.

"That shitty cook's voice? Now what's so special about that?" he asked mockingly.

"W…well", Chopper started hesitantly. The swordsman's gaze sent shivers down his spine. "Un…Unborn children are said to react to low voices. And i-in this case it's Sanji's."

The green-haired swordsman snorted while the cook's grin turned wider and wider.

"Isn't that great, Nami-san?"

Not only had Sanji found a way of helping his beloved navigator in a way nobody else could, but he had also made a victory against Zoro. Indirectly, yes; yet victory was victory.

Suddenly, the sound of metal clanking against the wooden floor filled the room as Zoro stood up from where he had sat against the wall and started toward the deck.

"Z..Zoro…" Chopper started. "Wh…where…"

The swordsman stopped for an instant and, without turning around, plainly stated:

"Since when is that any of your business?"

Thus said, he walked off, shutting the door behind him.

The hair on Chopper's neck still stood on end. The poor little reindeer had tried to conceal himself behind Usopp and was now making sure that the grumpy swordsman was out of the room, and it would thus be safe to leave his 'shelter'.

"Ooh, stingy…" Luffy commented between helping himself to various heaps of freshly baked muffins.

"Jeez… what's up with him?" the marksman asked to no one in particular, shaking his head.

Nami, however, frowned, gazing at where Zoro had just left the room.

_Could it be…?_

_

* * *

_

_That shitty cook…_

The swordsman scowled and dug his teeth deeper into the wooden handle of his training weights.

_It was always that shitty cook…_

Zoro swung the heavy weights up and down in a fast, rhythmic motion; the grip of his hands so tight that the white knuckles seemed to be about to break through the tanned skin any second.

Night had fallen over the vast ocean hours ago; and for about the same time the young swordsman had already been busying himself with hard training. He had still tried to sleep at first, yet his mind was haunted, not allowing him to rest for let alone a single minute. So training was the only logical consequence: if he was not able to sleep, he at least wanted to use all the time he had at hand.

_Couldn't that damn cook just mind his own business for once?_

The pace of his thrusts increased; sweat was trickling down his neck.

_That shitty…_

"Ah, Zoro, I knew you'd be here."

The swordsman slowly turned his head to the source of the voice.

"Eh", he grunted, carefully setting down his training equipment. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Heels clanking on the floor, Nami walked over to her nakama, silently stretching her tired back.

"Yeah, but I can't really sleep."

Zoro raised an eyebrow and shot her a questioning look.

Nami just shook her head and, softly patting her stomach, grinned.

"The kid's not letting me."

The green-haired man snorted and glanced down at his heavy weights.

"Then why did you come here instead of looking for that shitty cook of yours? I'm sure he'd love to help out."

Upon uttering the words, Zoro immediately ducked inwardly and braced himself. Yet to his surprised, no immediate answer came. No smart remark, no yelling, not even her trademark knock upside the head. Yet then, a different sound rang through the mild summer night's air; Nami was softly chuckling to herself.

"What's there to laugh about?" he barked angrily.

"Hmm… could it be?" she said, still smirking and curiously eyed the swordsman, hand at her chin in a thoughtful pose.

"What is it, woman? Talk!" he spat.

If there was one thing he hated, besides losing, it was to be made fun of.

"Hmm… could it be?" she murmured again, still eyeing him playfully. "Could it possibly be… that the great and powerful Roronoa Zoro is showing signs of jealousy?"

Zoro simply gaped at the navigator.

_That woman…_

Yet he soon overcame the shock and turned away, facing toward the seemingly endless ocean.

"Jealous?" he smirked "At that shitty cook, huh? Has hell frozen over yet?"

For a few moments, there were no sounds but the soft rustling of the wind in the sails and the mild splashing of waves against the battered hull of the Going Merry.

Then, the redhead let out a small sigh and sat down against the mast, one hand resting on her stomach, the other one rubbing her forehead.

Zoro immediately noticed her pained expression and frowned.

"Anything wrong?"

Nami just shook her head and forced a small smile.

"Naw", she brought her hand back down and started rubbing her stomach. "It's just turning into a bit of an annoyance every one in a while…"

Not really knowing what to answer, the swordsman just acknowledged her statement with a nod and sat down against the railing, resting his arms behind his neck.

Another silence set in.

"Ne, Zoro…"

"Hn?"

"There's really no reason." she said cryptically in her tired voice, yawning.

"Eh?" Zoro frowned and looked at his red haired nakama.

"There's no reason to be jealous really…" she answered, her voice trailing off.

Another silence.

Inside Zoro's head, thoughts were spinning faster than ever before. His face was burning hotter than any inflammation could ever cause it to.

This was just what he hated about women: they surprised you all the time. They were so darn unpredictable… You would think you had figured them out and in the next moment they proved you wrong. So it seemed you could never win against them, no matter how hard you tried. They would always get ahead of you.

Yet inwardly, Zoro smirked to himself. Not that he would have ever admitted it, but sometimes he actually preferred to be proven wrong.

He had just turned around and was about to give her his comment on her discovery when he finally noticed it; the red-haired navigator had closed her eyes, her chest rising and sinking in tune to her low breathing.

Nami had fallen asleep.

Zoro scowled. _Yes, pretty darn unpredictable…_

He stood up, sighing, and silently walked over.

"Oi, Nami", he tried, gently shaking her shoulder.

But his effort was in vain: the navigator was fast asleep.

Zoro sighed deeply once more as he bent down and carefully settled the young woman in his arms.

"This'd better not turn into some sort of habit of yours…"

* * *

Zoro grumbled once more. 

He hated it, loathed it, detested and despised it…

Sanji sported a mocking grin as he looked at the swordsman.

"Don't tell me Roronoa Zoro is giving in to some measly shopping bags?"

The blond cook ducked on reflex, for the look in Zoro's eyes alone might have been enough to knock him off of his feet. Yet if it were up to the swordsman, he would have rather bitten Sanji's head off. Bloody, yes, probably, but so much more satisfying…

"Guys, guys…" a female voice suddenly interrupted the men's glaring contest. Nami had walked back to her two male nakama who had stopped dead in their tracks. "We don't have time to be fooling around!" she added, rubbing her temples.

They had docked in harbor early that morning, and since then, had been walking around almost all the time. Many preparations had to be made, heaps of supplies had to be bought; and of course, Nami herself needed her own share 'supplies'. After approximately four dozen clothes stores and pharmacies, Sanji and Zoro were laden with an uncountable number of shopping bags in all sorts of sizes, colors and shapes. It had been a tiring day indeed.

"Hai, Nami-san!" Sanji beamed at the sight of his beloved redhead, instantly forgetting his quarrels with Zoro. Said swordsman simply muttered something under his breath and scowled.

Just as the small group was about to set back into motion, another male voice sounded through the small street.

"Roronoa Zoro, ex-pirate hunter and presently first mate of the mugiwara pirates. Current bounty: 60.000.000 Beli, isn't it?"

The three nakama turned to face the source of the sound, reflexively getting into the individual fighting stances.

"What do you want?" the swordsman shot back, right hand calmly unsheathing his Wadou.

"Oh nothing", his opponent replied smugly. The young, blond man simply grinned at Zoro and pulled two crescent shaped daggers from a leather belt at his hip. "Just your head."

_Just one. At least this would be a short fight. No need for any unnecessary commotion._

"Come and get it, if you can", he replied, setting Kuina's trusty sword between his jaws, grinning.

Suddenly, the other man made a small, nodding gesture and within split seconds, the small street was crowded with dozens over dozens of bounty hunters carrying all sorts of weapons.

_Kuso…_

"I've heard of you, Roronoa Zoro, and I am not a stupid man. I'd rather not take any unnecessary risks." He was still smirking as he added "Men, get him, and take out those other two, as well!"

"No unnecessary risks, eh? Then you shouldn't have come here…" Zoro pressed out between gritted teeth. This did not look good at all. He certainly did not mind a small fight, neither did that cook; but getting Nami into trouble in her current state was nothing they could afford. "Sanji, you make sure Nami's safe, I'll take care of this!"

The blond cook nodded, already fending off the attacking men while shielding the navigator with his body.

The swordsman stormed off for the leader of the group. Once the head of the snake had been taken out, the rest would just wiggle about aimlessly. His katana blades had not even touched by the man's daggers when the blond man fell limply to his knees and then to the floor.

_Too easy._

He had felled about another 20 men when he suddenly heard the navigator shout from behind. Zoro spun around, heart pounding in his chest.

The young woman had pulled out her clima tact and knocked out two men who were jumping at her.

_That darn cook! What's he doing? He's supposed to…_

Then he spotted him: Sanji was on the floor right next to where Nami stood, grabbing his right leg with gritted teeth. Blood was gushing out of a large cut somewhere on the lower part of his leg.

_Shit…_

"Nami, stay put, damn it!" Zoro yelled. "I'm finishing this!"

And so he fought on, as if in a high fever, slashing body after body blindly.

Witnessing the strength of their opponent, the living remains of the bounty hunters fled in panic, leaving their wounded nakama to die on the cold pavement.

Finally, Zoro sheathed his katana.

"Nami-san, please…!" he suddenly heard the pleading voice of the Going Merry's cook. "We'll get you to Chopper in minute, just hold on!"

At the sound of those words, the swordsman's heartbeat seemed to cease, breathing turned harder and harder.

_What the …_

He rushed over to where he had left his two nakama, and what he then saw made him almost completely lose his mind: Nami was lying on the ground, unconscious, hand at her stomach, her face paler than he had ever seen it. Right next to her knelt Sanji, worry written all over his face, tears threatening to break free from his eyes.

"What happened?" Zoro asked shortly while bending down to the navigator.

"I don't know really, she…", Sanji had to swallow hard in order to be able to continue fighting against the overwhelming pressure of tears and guilt, "she just collapsed all of a sudden. We need to get her back to the Merry!"

When Sanji was about to lean over Nami to scoop her into his arms, Zoro pulled him back and shot him a hard look, shaking his head.

"You can barely walk, with that wound of yours. I'm taking her, it'll be faster." His voice allowed no talking back.

Sanji hang his head low and nodded, staggering to his own feet while Zoro had already picked up the navigator and was running towards the close harbor.

_Just why the frickin' hell had they decided to come for his head that day_…

His eyes fixed on the island's port, he tightened his grip on the navigator.

_Don't you dare give up on me now, Nami…_

_

* * *

_

_**a/n: **I'm sorry, I'm aware that I said this chapter would be up by Sept. 10 or 11, but due to some.. well.. private problems I was not able to finish this any earlier. Trust me, I sat down in front of this story for quite some time but was never actually able to get anything written. _

_This chapter turned out longer than intended though, in the end. Especially the last part I planned completely differently. Please don't hate me for the cliffie.._

_Now a word about the quality of my fanfic: I am aware that I am certainly far from being a good writer. And even though it is true that English is not my mother tongue, this can be no excuse for my sloppy, descriptionless writing style. I sincerely apologize to all of you. It is no good writing, I am aware, and I am glad you still put up with it._

_**gothywolfie: **You like the pace, hm? That's good, I assume. There will be about 3 more chapters to this fanfiction, if everything works out according to my plan. And you're welcome: I love reading your fanfictions, and I think it is only right to let you know!_

_**random crazy person: **first of all: I love your email! (could be mine...) And I'm glad to hear you are "kinda glad" about finding this story. But you're right, this whole father thing is getting a bit out of hand. I currently have about 4-5 different scenarios in mind (excluding the possible bad endings) and keep changing my opinion about daily... Thank you for complimenting my portrayal of the pregnancy. It's not an easy thing to do, actually, but I am glad that it comes across the way I intended it._

_**Illusion of a Lunatic: **First of all: thanx for constantly reviewing and putting up with my bad updating habits and writing style! As for kids, I seem to have a tendency to have my fanfiction characters have twins (as in my FF stories), but as for this story, I am still completely undecided (even though there are only about three chapters left)._

_**Iron Clad24: **Thank you so much! I'm happy to hear that this little story positively caught your attention. What more could an 'author' wish for?_

_**mushi-azn: **I'm glad you liked them! Yes, Sanji's part was a bit short; I intended to have the have about the same length, but it just turned out differently. I do seem to be an author who is controlled by her writing rather than the other way around. Btw: for someone who frequently visits the K-F forums (even though rarely posting), you are quite popular;) _

_**Magus Black: **Slow? Yes, that would definitely be me. Thanx for commenting!_

_**CeltiCrimson: **Oh it was? Really? Now that definitely is a compliment, thanx! I'm glad you like the chibi Sanjis. And, btw, I know that feeling of having your parents regard you as some sort of weirdo (whenever I watch One Piece, they start commenting on Luffy's overly grown teeth and his lack of eyelashes; and once I fall off the couch laughing about Chopper's "Sugeeee-" they think I've totally lost it...) About the beta-reading: one of my best friends actually asked me if she could do it. She's currently in a One Piece craze just like me. (As you can see this chapter was not beta-read... But she should start working on it from the next chapter on)_

_**Lilosan: **Another Zoro addict, I see? Thanx for complimenting my writing, as a reward, here's the update;)_

_**Omnichild: **I know it wasn't the best written story (just read the comment on top for my view on things), but I'm glad you read it anyway. And I'll make sure to check out your story once it's up. _

_**DangerousandDemonicDevil: **I'm really glad I can actually make people laugh! Curse this sign-stripping system from taking all of my smileys from the a/n.. grr.._

_**Melinda-chan: **Yup, true, you will never see this in the original Anime, and that is one of the reasons I wrote it: because I thought it would be interesting to see how it would develop and how people react to it. The "getting drunk" part is, in my opinion, the greatest weakness of the story and I'm thus currently working on a different explanation that would still fit the story and probably make it more believeable (as far as that is possible). I'm hoping you'll find the time to read the rest of the story and enjoy it, too!_


	8. Preparations

**Chapter 8: Preparations**

"Do something, damn it! It's still way too early!" Sanji yelled at the small reindeer, silent tears rushing from his eyes.

Chopper squirmed.

"I… I'm trying… I'm trying…"

On the small bed in front of them lay their navigator. The redhead was cringing in pain, clutching her stomach tighter with each contraction that shook her small body. The sheets around her abdomen were tinted crimson red.

"I wanna go see Nami!" Luffy's voice sounded from the door. "I wanna help her!"

"Just stay where you are, damn it", Zoro barked, "That's the best way to help her!"

The swordsman slammed the door shut behind him and quickly walked over to the bed, balancing a huge bowl of fresh water.

"Just put it over there. T-Thanks…" Chopper stuttered, already dabbing a wrinkled cloth in the cold liquid and gently placing it on Nami's forehead.

She was panting heavily, sweating all over. When another contraction hit her, she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Sanji scowled. The pain she was enduring right now had to be so much more intense than anything he had ever felt. It made all of his insides turn to see his beloved redhead like this and not even being able to help her the slightest bit.

"Just hold on there, Nami-san. It'll be all right…" he pressed out through gritted teeth, lightly touching the navigator's shoulder.

Yet she showed absolutely no reaction to his touch whatsoever. She had gone into a high fever two hours ago, and around the same time the contractions had started. At the beginning, Nami had still noticed most that happened around her; the panicky look on her face had burnt itself deeply into Sanji's mind. Yet she had gradually drifted off into a trancelike state, only screaming and shaking in pain.

Chopper scampered around the bed, checking Nami's vital status with a worried look on his face to then return to the foot of the bed and once more inspect her abdomen.

"What is it, Chopper?" Sanji questioned, noticing the torn look on the small reindeer's face.

The little one simply shook his head and gazed down for a minute.

"It… it doesn't look good…", he stuttered, and hesitantly added: "I'm… I'm afraid…"

A bone-shattering scream suddenly erupted from Nami's throat as another contraction struck her and sent rivers of blood gushing out of her.

"What the…", Sanji gaped at the new pool of red liquid forming around the navigator.

Chopper carefully took a small white towel and, lifting Nami's long shirt, exposed a small, pink, blood-stained bundle and gently wrapped it in the soft fabric. The navigator was whimpering, tears freely flowing down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry…" the little one whispered, holding the small bundle tightly in his short arms.

"What the…", Sanji yelled in a daze. His mind seemed to have blanked out. "Somebody do something!"

"It's too late…", Zoro said lowly, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall. "There's nothing anybody could do about it now…"

"Shit…", the blond cook spat, looking over at his Nami-san.

The tears were still flowing from her closed eyes.

She would not look.

As long as she had not seen it, there was still the possibility to deny…

* * *

She awoke with a start.

So it had all just been a dream.

With a relieved sigh, Nami attempted to sit up, only to be stopped by a stinging pain running through her stomach. She carefully brought a hand to it and rubbed it lightly.

Was it just her imagination or had it really been bigger before? Faking a smile on her worried face, she slowly shook her head. It had to be just her imagination.

"Nami! You finally woke up…" the little reindeer had entered without her noticing and was now smiling at her comfortingly. He scurried over to her bed and nervously looked at her after checking her pulse and temperature.

"Y-You know, N-Nami, i-if you want to talk… We all… we all want to help you through this…" he stuttered, his gaze alternating between her face and the wooden floor.

Nami frowned. What could he possibly be talking about? It had all just been a dream, hadn't it?

"Help me…through what?" she asked tentatively.

Chopper sadly shook his head. She must have gone into a state of denial. It was typical for what she had been through, and still, it made things so much worse.

"You… you know, the… baby…" he stuttered once more. As he registered Nami's uncomprehending look, he added: "We're all… so sorry… **I'm **sorry… I wish… I could have done more…"

Nami closed her eyes at the bitter truth. It had not been a dream after all, then. There was no use in denying what had proven to be true, no matter how much it hurt.

"…Chopper?" Nami asked, opening her eyes and looking at her small nakama with a pleading look. There was no need to voice her question. He understood. Even without words.

"A… a girl… It was a beautiful little girl…" he whispered.

* * *

Nami gasped as she opened her eyes. Her whole body was covered in cold sweat; even the bed sheets felt damp.

Her eyes stung. From crying herself the night before, she figured. They had to be crimson red and puffy, she thought to herself. With a shaky hand, she rubbed her stomach, driving away a small, stinging sensation.

Her mind had to be playing tricks on her again, she thought, as she felt the size of her abdomen. Things like these happened when patients went into denial; she had heard Chopper talk of this before. The brain played tricks, made that person believe things her or she subconsciously wished for in order to avoid the hurtful truth.

A single tear escaped from her eye and ran down her cheek. It felt like it was the only left after what would be the first in a row of long, sleepless nights of mourning.

Quietly, slowly, the door opened, and the ship's cook entered, a mug of hot, steaming cocoa in his hand. As his gaze fell upon his beloved navigator, registering that she had awoken, a relieved smile grew on his face.

"Ah, Nami-san, you finally woke up!" he gracefully walked over to her bed and placed the mug on her bedside table.

Nami forced a smile and quickly wiped away the tears. He did not have to know.

"You had all of us pretty worried", Sanji stated, showing a hint of sadness, yet as soon as it had appeared on his face, it was wiped away by a gentle smile. "So how are you feeling now?"

Nami blinked at him. How come he seemed to carefree and cheerful despite what had happened?

"I… I'm okay, I guess…", she replied, still somewhat confused.

Sanji beamed at her.

"I'm glad to hear that, Nami-san. Chopper really did his best, I've never seen him that concentrated ever before. It is all thanks to him that the little one's still all right."

Nami blinked once more. All right? Just what was he talking about? It could not possibly have been a dream again, could it? It all had seemed so real.

"Ano… Sanji-kun… what do you mean 'the little one's all right'?" she asked, hopefully.

Now it was Sanji's turn to look a the redhead confusedly.

"Why, of course that the baby is doing fine", he explained, looking at his nakama. "During that fight, you must have somehow collapsed: your circulation was completely shut down, your blood pressure basically non-existent. If Chopper had not been able to get you back 'up' that quickly, we would have been in some serious trouble!"

Nami's brain was still digesting the new information. Could it really be?

"So… so the baby is okay?" she inquired once more. She just had to make sure.

"Yes, of course it is", Sanji answered, eyeing her expression curiously.

With a sigh, the redhead sunk back onto the mattress and closed her eyes. If it had all just been a dream, and everything seemed to be just fine, then how could it still hurt so much, twist her insides, pierce her heart like a burning hot knife?

"Is anything wrong, Nami-san?" the cook asked worriedly, carefully bending over the bed.

The young woman sighed once more and opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling.

"I… I just had a nightmare, that's all…"

Sanji quietly sank down onto the chair next to the bed and ran a hand through his blond hair.

"It seems to be bothering you…" he tried gently.

Nami slowly shook her head and closer her eyes again.

"N…no I'm okay… It was just a dream…"

"Nami-san…", Sanji started, his voice slightly trailing off. Worry was etched into its every tone, "I told you I would be there for you and try to help you in any way I could… It is not good for you to keep worrying. … And not for the baby, either…"

Nami sighed heavily, pushing herself in a sitting position and stared on her swollen stomach.

"It just felt so real…" she started. It had never been easy for her to voice her feelings in front of others. She had spent most of her time by herself; and her feelings had been the least thing she had been able to worry about…

Sanji well understood this. He knew that she continue when she had gathered the strength. So he simply leaned back in his chair, upholding the small silence.

"I… I lost the baby…", she started and pressed her eyes shut, trying to keep the threatening tears from flowing. "In… in my dream, after that fight… I guess somehow, the contractions started…" she paused for a moment to recuperate, "It was still… too early for the baby…" She swallowed upon the last words.

The blond cook bent forward and, running a hand through his hair, closed his eyes. Even though he had never been in a similar situation before, he could well imagine the pain that this silly little illusion had caused her.

"It… it was a girl… Sanji-kun…", Nami said suddenly, looking at him, tears now running freely from her usually sparkling eyes.

The pain in her gaze pierced itself deep into his heart. She did not deserve this. His Nami-san had done nothing to deserve feeling pain as strong as this. She had been through even horrible things.

Taking up all his courage, he did the only thing that felt completely natural to him. And even if she would smack him, scold him, hate him; nobody and nothing could have kept him from it.

Sanji leaned forward over the bed, enclosed his red-haired nakama in his arms and softly pushed her into his chest. Despite his expectations, the navigator showed no signs of objection. She gave in instantly, silently crying into his light blue shirt.

He gently hushed her, running his slender hand through her fiery hair.

"Shhh… It's all right…", he whispered softly, "Everything will be okay, I promise…"

* * *

Nami yawned as she slowly pushed herself out of bed.

She had promised Chopper to get some rest to let her tired body regain strength after all the recent stress and had thus been sleeping until far after lunch already. This time however, luckily, there had been no nightmares to haunt her sleep. It had been nothing but pure relaxation. Yet a bitter aftertaste still remained. She could not quite put her finger on it, but something felt distinctly different than before.

Yet she decided to shrug it off for the time being and quietly made her way to the kitchen. Her stomach was complaining loudly, even though Sanji had provided her with a delicious breakfast a few hours ago.

Upon entering the kitchen, the navigator was welcomed by various noises.

Luffy, her captain, was begging Sanji for snacks, using his most whiny tone of voice and the closest thing to puppy dog eyes Nami had ever seen. At the table sat Zoro, quietly cleaning his katana.

Noticing her, he acknowledged her with a nod, raised his hand.

"Oi, Nami… Finally up, eh?" Once said, he returned to his work.

Nami decided to simply ignore his remark and was about to talk over to the table when Usopp finally realized her arrival and jerked up with a shocked face.

"O…oi, Nami…" he stuttered, quickly shoving away some of his tools. From what she had been able to see, he had been working on some wooden tools. His reaction did seem a bit exaggerated; yet this was Usopp she was talking about.

"Naaaami-san!", Sanji beamed as he noticed her, drawing her attention from the marksman. " Did you have a sleep?" he asked in his known gentlemanly manner and offered her a seat.

She took it gratefully and carefully smiled at him in return.

"Ya, I did, thank you, Sanji-kun", she nodded.

At this, Zoro glanced over at the two of them, slowly raising an eyebrow and awarded the scene with a low "Keh…"

"How are you feeling, Nami?" Chopper asked as he had walked over from Usopp's little workshop to the table. "A-are you sure you got enough rest?"

The little one was so concerned about her health that the navigator just could not suppress a small chuckle.

"Yes, I'm sure, Chopper", she said reassuringly, "I'm perfectly fine. Just a little hungry:" she added with a quick glance at Sanji who had already prepared her a small plate of various types of snacks.

"Here you are, Nami-san", he beamed once again, happy to be able to be of service to his beloved redhead.

"Thank you, Sanji-kun", Nami thanked happily, helping herself to a piece of tasty-looking watermelon.

"Oooooooooh Snaaaaaaaacks!" Luffy exclaimed happily and stretched out his arm, reaching for Nami's plate.

Yet as soon as his hand had touched the china, another hand rather cruelly met his cheek.

"Keep your rubbery fingers away from my plate, or else…", the navigator glared at him threateningly.

Luffy ducked instinctively, rubbing his cheek. He knew this look; and it never meant food.

"… Stingy…", he muttered, pursing his lips.

"Never mind that, Luffy", Zoro stated plainly without even looking at his captain, still working on his katana. "Those are just mood swings… from all those hormones and stuff."

"Eh? Horn cones? Can you eat that, Zoro?" Luffy asked, curiously eyeing his first mate. Yet before said swordsman could answer, a low voice reached to his ears, promising pain, or rather, a slow, painful death.

"Zoro…" Nami's eyes had turned into slits as she glared at the green haired man.

_Uh oh, not good… _He swallowed hard, slowly turning his gaze to his female nakama.

"Say that again and I'll show what those hormones can do!" she thundered in a voice that no longer seemed to be of earthly origin.

While Sanji observed the scene with a huge grin on his face, Zoro calmly resumed his work, hoping her good mood would return as soon as it had vanished. But still… how hard it could be to keep your hands from trembling…

"Ooooh Sanji-kun, this chocolate is delicious!" Nami exclaimed with a pleasant smile.

Yet it could be not competition to the radiance of Sanji's grin.

"I'm soooooo glad you like it, Nami-san", he twitted, his brain shutting down into love mode, "I got it just for my beautiful goddess! Only the most exquisite deserts are worthy of become her food!"

The swordsman quietly rolled his eyes at the cook. Why couldn't he just stop it for once…

"Ano… did you know", the marksman suddenly spoke up, gaining his nakama's attention, "that women who crave lots of chocolate during the pregnancy always give birth to girls?"

This rewarded him a round of questioning frowns.

"Ah come on, Usopp", Sanji said, rubbing his temples, "that's just an urban legend."

"No, no it's not!" Usopp insisted, "Back in my village, there was this pregnant lady that would eat 10 pounds of chocolate every day; and in the end she had three girls!"

"Wooooooaaaah really?" Chopper and Luffy chanted in unison. They were simply fascinated with Usopp's great discovery.

"Idiots…", Zoro said calmly, scowling at his easily influenced captain and doctor. If Usopp told them that the moon was a huge piece of cheese a giant had lost while traveling to a sky island, they would believe it instantly. And he was afraid that Luffy would even set out for an adventure to the sky, exclaiming he would be the one to find the most gigantic cheese ever… "Something like that could not possibly make a difference."

"Ya, but still", Nami suddenly spoke up with a distant look in her eyes "I think it's a girl."

Now it was Nami who had everybody frown at her. Everybody but Sanji, who smiled knowingly.

"How do you know?" Zoro asked, eyebrows raised, looking over at her questioningly.

"I don't know", Nami grinned and shrugged, "just a hunch, I guess."

"Ano, Nami…" Chopper said, standing up on his chair.

Said navigator looked at him, while helping herself to another small piece of peppermint chocolate.

"Hm?"

"Do… do you have any names yet?" he asked hesitantly, "It's not that long anymore."

"Hmm…", Nami started thoughtfully, but shook her head after a few moments, "No, not really…" she trailed off and looked at her nakama. "But I guess Chopper's right, we should start and try to think of one soon."

Sanji nodded in agreement, stretching his back.

"It wouldn't hurt to start making preparations", he stated "We should decide on an island to anchor at when the time comes; and there are many other things that still have to be taken care of."

The crew nodded in agreement.

"Yosh!" Luffy suddenly exclaimed in his ever present enthusiasm. "I'm your captain! Everybody start preparing right now!"

"Baka", Zoro muttered through gritted teeth and gave the rubber boy a good smack upside the head. "Keep it down already. There's no need to rush."

Luffy once more pursed his lips and pouted at his first mate.

"Zoro… you're mean…" the boy whined.

The veins in Zoro's head throbbed madly as his nakama broke out into laughter.

"_Ack… just what have I done to deserve this…", _he thought to himself, sighing inwardly. "_Sometimes I really think I joined the wrong crew…", _he added with a twisted grin as he joined in the happy laughter.

* * *

It had turned fairly cold over the past few days. And from the huge clouds that hung overhead, snow could start to fall any time – a prospect at which the small ship's captain developed a distant, dream look on his face, and started to mutter under his breath in a sing-song voice.

Nami sighed quietly, her warm breath visible in the chilly air. She looked at her Log Pose once more to confirm the Merry's position and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and chin. Yet looking at the sight a few feet away from her was what made her freeze even more than the chilly air.

"Geez, Zoro… Aren't you cold?" she asked incredulously.

"Eh?" the swordsman gazed at her quickly and then returned to his single-fingered pushups. "Why should I be?"

"Well… maybe because it is freezing cold and you're not even wearing a shirt?"

Zoro grunted, then smirked. "Shirts are for little girls. A swordsman cannot stop to care about such trivial things as the weather."

Nami rolled her eyes. There it was again: manly pride. Even if his limbs froze off, he would never admit that he felt cold. She had tried to understand it, this monster men – and especially this certain swordsman - called 'pride' or 'honor'; but in the end, she had come to the same conclusion that she had suspected from the very beginning. It was stubbornness. Pure, rock-hard, illogical stubbornness.

That, of course, was something he would never admit either, for it would go against his pride, meaning he was too stubborn.

_Oh well, a vicious circle… _Nami thought to herself, grinning.

Yet the grin was instantly wiped from her face as a sharp, piercing pan ran through her whole lower body, making her bite her lips to keep from screaming.

_This was no good…_

She brought her shaking hands down to her stomach and calmed her breathing.

"Umm… Zoro?"

He grunted and, without looking up or stopping his exercises, asked shortly:

"What is it time?"

Nami exhaled and closed her eyes.

"Could you please get Chopper?"

* * *

_a/n: Ah, finally done (it's about 1:14am right now). And almost all the chapter written today without a break, too. I'm kinda proud of myself that I did actually keep the update date that I intended. Quite an achievement for a lazy person like me!_

_Anyway, I really hope you like this chapter. Cruel first paragraph, I know. It basically shows what I intended the ending to be, at first. As you can see I've changed my mind. I just can't bring myself to do something so cruel to our poor straw hat pirates, and to you, of course._

_Oh, just a short side note before I get to the individual reviewers:_

I finally received an answer from the US university I applied to and was actually accepted. This basically means I will be in the states from January on (for about 6 months), so you can hope for improvements of my English. And thanks to everybody who wished me good luck!

**Omnichild: **Oh, I'm glad you liked the chapter. This one was quite different, you see. But I'm still hoping it was to your liking! Would you mind to stop poking me now?Oo

**CloeyMarie: **All that praise.. why.. thank you! My mother tongue is actually German. But I'm constantly trying to improve my English to hopefully reach a near Native Speaker state some day.

**Lightning-cloud: **Yes, that was definitely Zoro's emotional chapter. But since I'm trying to maintain some sort of balance, there was a bit more Sanji in here. It's not exactly easy to balance between two great guys though..

**DangerousandDemonicDevil: **As you see, Nami did get better;) And yes, Zoro's jealousy was pretty obvious. Yet he's not the best when it comes to feelings of any kind, so I guess it figures.

**Bevin: **You're right, the situation is pretty stupid. Since, one way or another, one of them has to lose it all (so to say). Hmm or might there be…?

**mushi-azn: **You wanted Sanji scenes, right? Here they are! So no need to panic. Btw, I'm not consciously using the Japanese, since I'm actually trying not to use much of it, but it keeps slipping in. I'm sorry, I'll try to keep an eye on it.

**Gothywolfie**: Naw not time for the baby yet. Gotta give it a bit more time. You'll have to wait another chapter or two.

But true, I have the choice. And if it weren't Nami's, that would be quite a surprise to even me… well… anything is possible in One Piece..

**Melinda-chan: **Take your time, there's no need to hurry. This fic won't run away any time soon (jeez, how I hate that my smileys are being stripped…)

**Illusion Of A Lunatic: **Well, was this fast enough to avoid a nervous breakdown? I'm glad you like the chapter! And I'm trying to update as fast as I can (currently I'm trying for one chapter per week)

**Namibean: **Ah, so you're still with me, too? That's great! Glad you like it (praise from other author does mean a whole lot to me).

**Madri: **I'm sorry.. I don't accept blackmail money.. Although… Naw..

**Vash: **Oh, I'm being called a Ms, that's a first! And thanx for the compliment!

**Kittie-Nova: **Here's your update already, probably earlier than you expected. Hope you'll like it!

And now, it's late. Time to turn off my crazy One Piece music (Usopp&Chopper: Friends the craziest song ever. It rocks!) and watch my daily dose of OP Eps.

Ja na! – See you at the next update!


	9. Nearing the Starting Line

**Chapter 9: Nearing the Starting Line**

"Oh come on, Chopper, pleeeease", the whining female voice tried "Pretty please?"

But the little reindeer simply shook his head in denial.

"I-I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay put for at least another week", he walked over to the bed and carefully handed the navigator a small glass containing a clear liquid. Eyeing it with dismay, she raised her head, brought the container to her lips and emptied it, scowling. "And you-you need to take it easier even after that. Those were real contractions, and they were not easy to calm back down."

Nami sighed.

"We can't risk it happening again, I know…"

The young woman was visibly worried, paled, and still exhausted from the physical and mental stress of the past two hours. It had indeed taken quite some time to prevent the premature birth; and the incident had shaken all of the crewmembers to the core. Even though loud noise, chaos and havoc were certainly anything but uncommon on the small caravel, a ruckus like that just a short while ago had never been heard before. Luckily for Nami however, Chopper had been able to calm them down after a while – more or less peacefully – and shove them out of her room, so that she was now able to rest up for a while.

"A-and please remember to take these drops that I gave you", Chopper reminded her, immediately noticing the scowl on her face. "I'll come to check on you every once in a while. O-okay?"

Nami smiled at the little doctor weakly and slightly nodded.

"I think a nap wouldn't be too bad right now…" she muttered, pulling the bedcovers up to her chin.

* * *

"How is Nami-san? Is she doing better?" the cook inquired impatiently as Chopper stepped out of Nami's room and quietly closed the door behind him.

The remaining crew members were obviously thinking just the same and eyed him curiously.

The reindeer nodded.

"I-I just gave her some drops that will help her relax. She's sleeping now."

"Wooooooh---", Luffy started; yet his enthusiastic scream was soon ended when Sanji's fist met with the top of his head.

"Will you stop the ruckus and let her sleep, you dimwit?" the blond cook spat through gritted teeth.

Luffy immediately calmed down as his brain had processed Sanji's request and let his eyes sink to the floor guiltily, pursing his lips.

"Soooorry…"

"She needs to stay in bed for at least another week", Chopper added, looking at his nakama. "And it wouldn't be good if she had to get upset or worked up about anything. So try to be quiet so that she can get enough rest."

While the other crewmembers happily agreed in an almost saluting tone, Zoro smirked to himself.

_That woman and staying in bed? For a whole week even? As if…_

_

* * *

_

Nami sighed as she turned around once more, a huge scowl written on her face. She had only been in bed for a single day so far; yet the pain in her back was reaching levels which made it impossible to find a comfortable position. And on top of that, she was growing increasingly bored. She currently had no books that she had not read at least twice; and the one time she had tried to get up to do some work on her maps, she had been easily caught by Sanji and had been sent back to bed that same instant. Staring at the ceiling did not work well, either. It was just too quiet.

Certainly, Chopper was right. The more rest she got, the better. She was certainly not willing to risk her child, yet what bad would it do if she just went on deck for a moment? Just to check on her tangerine grove, smell the salty sea breeze and maybe even catch a glimpse of the starry sky? It wouldn't hurt, would it? Distances on the Merry were short after all.

The navigator quickly nodded to herself and, with quite some effort, pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her body, thought having rested for so long, was still tired from the day's earlier events. She sighed and quickly stepped into a pair of soft slippers.

Then, as quietly as she could, the redhead walked over to the door. Yet as soon as she had pushed it open and cautiously looked out into the corridor, she gasped in surprise.

"And what do you think _you're _doing?" a gruff voice inquired.

_Oh that swordsman… _Nami swore inwardly. _When would he finally stop minding her business and get back to his own?_

The navigator looked at him sternly, hands pressed into her hips.

"I was just going to the bathroom", she lied plainly, "anything wrong with that?"

Zoro smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"You mean apart from the fact that you are lying me straight in the face?"

Nami's inward cursing grew more intense; and she had to try hard to keep herself from actually voicing her thoughts.

"You are going right back to bed. I don't feel like having that shitty cook in my back for letting you sneak out."

Nami's face turned from a scowl into a pure, childlike pout which only could have been equaled by Luffy. Yet she knew that any resistance from her side would be nothing but futile. The swordsman would get his way, sooner or later; and in the state she was at the moment, she had hardly the strength left to oppose him other than verbally.

So she grudgingly made her way back inside her room and was about to sink back down onto the now uncomfortable mattress of her bed, as she noticed that the swordsman had stepped inside and was now eyeing her from the entrance.

Nami looked at him with a frown.

"What is it now?"

The swordsman shrugged indifferently.

"Just making sure you're getting back to bed."

Nami's temper instantly rose by several degrees. She tightly clenched the sheets in her fits and spat at the swordsman:

"Just what am I? A prisoner? Even sentenced murderers get the right to move whenever they want!"

Inwardly, Zoro laughed to himself. He certainly understood how she felt, yet feelings were not always the main concern. You had to sort out your priorities.

"And why were you in front of my room anyway?" she added with a glare.

Zoro shrugged once more.

"We're taking turns. Making sure you stay where you're supposed to be.", and with another shrug and a snort he added: "I can think of better things to do with my time. Why don't you just stop trying to get away? Listen to Chopper for once."

Now it was Nami's turn to let out a deep sigh. After all it was not like she did not want to listen to Chopper. She knew that he was right, that she needed all the rest she could possibly get. And she did not want to bother her nakama with watching her either. But it was just so…

"But it's just so boring…", she explained with pursed lips.

Seeing this, Zoro had a hard time trying to keep himself from bursting out into laughter. There she was, a grown up woman – a money-crazy bitch, as Zoro would have put it – pouting like a little child because she was plain bored.

"You've got brains, don't you?" was his short answer.

The navigator instantly shot him a confused look.

"Hn?"

"Use 'em. I bet there are things that you still need to sort out. You won't get time as quiet as this again for quite a while."

Thus said, he shortly nodded and closed the door behind him, leaving a flabbergasted navigator staring at the rough wood blocking her room off from the corridor.

_That swordsman… _No matter how hard she tried, she would never understand him. And still she had to admit that he actually was right from time to time.

* * *

There was a soft knock on the door.

Nami carefully turned away from the wall and pushed herself up.

"You can come in." she simply answered.

It did not actually matter which member of the crew was requesting to be allowed in, since they all seemed to have decided to pay her visits every once in a while. The navigator was actually wondering whether or not the swordsman might have slipped word that she was getting bored…

The door quietly opened, and Nami had to admit to herself that she was actually quite surprised as she saw who had entered. Usopp, the marksman, closed the door behind himself and slowly walked over to Nami's bed. He seemed to be quite nervous for some reason, his gaze turned to the wooden planks. He was also hiding something behind his back, obviously, Nami noticed as her long nosed nakama came closer.

"What is it, Usopp?" she started calmly, eyeing him in curiosity.

The marksman shifted uncomfortably.

"Is it your turn now?" she asked with a smirk.

Usopp frowned back at her.

"My turn? A…at what exactly?"

Now it was time for Nami to frown.

"Well, taking turns watching me, to make sure I don't sneak out, you know?"

The marksman shot her a worried look. Had she been dreaming?

"But… we're not watching you… you're no prisoner, you know?"

_Shame on you, swordsman… having to lie to your own nakama…, _Nami thought to herself, grinning inwardly.

"I know, Usopp, never mind that", Nami answered, "so what did you come for?"

"Well… Nami…", he started hesitantly, shifting from one foot to the other.

The navigator frowned. She had hardly seen him act that nervous towards her.

"Well…", he stuttered, still staring at the floor, "I made something for you. Ah well, I mean… for… for the baby…".

Thus said, he pulled his hands from his back and held them right in front of her face.

What the redhead saw in that moment made her stare in awe. She carefully picked the object out of his hands and studied it. The toy was an almost identical, small copy of the Going Merry. Everything was there: from the sheep's head that had turned into the captain's favorite spot, to the delicately carved tangerine groves in the back of the small caravel. The marksman had even endowed the sails with the crew's Jolly Roger.

Nami's eyes lit in delight. She had never had many toys when she had been little, since Belemere had had a hard time trying to provide for food and clothes alone. And whenever she saw cute little toys like this one, she felt like that toddler who used to spend countless hours staring at the windows of the stores, adoring all those things that were so far out of reach.

"Ano… Do you like it?" Usopp asked, finally bringing up the courage to look her in the eyes.

Nami simply nodded, still staring at the tiny caravel in awe.

Finally, Usopp's nervousness seemed to be dissolving and a victorious grin appeared on his face.

"I've rounded all of the sharp corners. And I had Chopper help me with the paint, it's 10.000 natural! It's a masterpiece, one of a kind!" he explained still beaming. Still savoring his triumph, however, he decided to leave at the peak of his fame and made for the door.

He had just touched the frame of the door when Nami's voice suddenly pulled him back out of his reveries.

"Usopp…?"

He quickly turned around to see his female nakama look at him happily.

"Thank you, Usopp. I _really_ like it."

The marksman's grin grew even bigger, though that seemed to be impossible, and after raising his hand shortly to signal goodbye, he literally danced out of the room.

The navigator silently snickered to herself, her fingers still in a careful grip around the marvelous toy.

Hymns of Usopp the Great could be heard all across the ship that night.

That was… until a certain swordsman decided that, for the sake of his nakama's vocal cords, and, most importantly, his own, constantly rising blood pressure, it was time to call it a day.

* * *

"Nami-san…" the blond cook gently shook the navigator's shoulder, "wake up, Nami-san…"

When Sanji had come in that morning to bring his beloved navigator her freshly prepared breakfast, the young woman had been tossing and turning, still fast asleep, her brow's knitted, a painful expression written all over her face. Her forehead was damp and her hands tightly clutched her stomach. He knew what was going on.

Sanji's face lit up visibly as he noticed his Nami-san's eyes opening slowly. She looked around wearily, eyes red and puffy from tears that had obviously flown earlier.

He carefully stroked her check, wiping off the tears.

"It was just a dream, Nami-san", he quietly explained, "everything's fine. The baby's doing great."

It took quite a while until Nami's mind seemed to be registering the new information and discarding what had seemed so real just an instance ago.

He gently brushed a strand of red hair out of her face and smiled comfortingly. The dreams had become quite frequent recently. Now, with only two more weeks left until the due date, they also seemed to have intensified. Sanji would often come to her room in the morning only to find her panting and tossing herself around. Yet the more dreams she had had, the longer it took her to completely return to reality. Just two days ago, he had sat by her bed for almost an hour, simply holding the young woman who was weeping into his shoulder.

And again, tears were starting to well up in her eyes, even though it long seemed as if there could not be any left. The blond man carefully brought her into his arms again. And she accepted. It had turned into a silent agreement between the two of them. No words needed, just the comforting feeling of a loving touch. A gentle stroke on the cheek, a hand run through the hair. Until she quieted down. She would never thank him, verbally, but there was no need to. Her acceptance of his soothing touch was all it needed. When she felt better, she would simply smile at him gratefully and nothing would be left unsaid.

And so it was that day. Nami slowly pulled herself out of his arms and rested her back against the wall, smiling at her nakama.

"It's about time the little one finally gets out…" she said with a smirk, stroking her stomach.

Sanji quietly chuckled to herself, smiling to see that his Nami-san had recovered.

"It's just another two weeks, Nami-san", he said comfortingly, eyeing her stomach to then look her in the eye with a grin "Just another two weeks and hell will break lose."

Nami sighed in fake frustration.

"Mhm… things are going to change. It'll be a whole lot noisier… if that's at all possible."

The cook chuckled.

"Well, if you can handle Luffy, you can handle any kid."

Nami laughed loudly and nodded in agreement.

"Oh how true…" _He really does have a point there._

Suddenly, the navigator grew serious, eyeing her nakama with a sincere look.

"Sanji-kun… I've been thinking…"

Sanji's heart skipped a beat. _Thinking? About what?_

"Thinking? About what, Nami-san?"

Nami laughed at his reaction, shaking her head with a grin on her face.

"Oh don't worry, Sanji-kun", she said, laughing "it's nothing to get all worried about."

The redhead took another moment to make herself stop laughing and continued.

"I've been thinking about a name."

Sanji's eyes lit, sparkling with excitement.

"Oooooooh really, Nami-swan?"

Nami shook her head, chuckling to herself.

"Now tell me, what do you think about…" her voice trailed off until the name was nothing but a mere whisper, barely audible. On this ship, even the walls happened to have ears…

Yet the blond cook had well perceived it and was now sporting a wide grin.

"Perfect, Nami-san", he complimented her with another grin "just perfect!"

* * *

Since it was now barely a week until the due date, the Going Merry had docked at a small island's port early in the morning. It had been decided that it would obviously be far too risky for Nami to attempt giving birth while in the middle of the ocean and that, since there were no pressing matters to be taken care of, there was enough time at their hands to take a break from the daily pirating business.

Yet for Usopp and Chopper, this first of all meant taking care of Merry's wounds. The poor caravel had taken quite some damage during the recent storm. And once they had accounted of all the repairs that needed to be made, it had become quite obvious that even Zoro and Sanji – despite their lack of will and enthusiasm – would have to lend Usopp a hand.

Nami however, not exactly able to be of too much help, had decided to go on a last minute shopping spree. Free time would, after all, become much rarer once the child was born. Since nobody wanted to let Nami go by herself, for the obvious reason, they had chosen Luffy to accompany her. When doing repairs, he usually did more damage than anything else really, so it was a quite handy solution.

Finally, Nami had managed to make Luffy leave a bar that he found had the greatest pork ever, and they were now picking up whatever she felt she still needed. Once they had entered the toy store, Luffy had started gaping at all the colorful little playthings that were on display. Nami had made her choice rather quickly and was at the counter, about to pay for everything she had bought; pacifiers, soft rings to bite on, rattles and various other little tools of all shapes and colors.

"Oh, my congratulations, Miss", an elderly shop assistant suddenly beamed at Nami, looking at her choices and then quickly glanced at the navigator's largely swollen stomach. "How much longer is it?" she asked friendly.

Nami smiled back, somewhat startled.

"Eh… thank you", she almost stuttered, "actually just about a week."

The woman smiled knowingly, starting to wrap up Nami's purchases, while merrily chatting on.

"With all my kids, I never even got close to the due date." She said, smiling happily, "they were all so eager…"

Nami smiled back politely, yet feeling somewhat awkward with the situation. Talking about her situation had never felt quite right, especially with strangers.

"I'm sure you didn't come here alone, did you?" the woman inquired, still busying herself with the toys. "Didn't you bring your husband with you? The baby's father?"

Nami felt her face turn to an at least four shades deeper crimson than it ever had. This was certainly nothing she wanted to talk about, especially not to somebody she did not even know, so she decided to go for the easiest way out.

"Oh, he's…"

Yet before Nami could end her sentence, Luffy came walking up to her with, childish joy written all over his face.

"This place is so much fun, Nami!" he grinned happily, "Look at what all they have!"

The shop assistant eyed the boy curiously, a bemused smile playing on her lips.

"…him?" she asked, nodding towards Luffy with a questioning look.

_Oh Jesus, this just can't be happening…_

Had there been a hole to jump into, she would have done it. Anything. Anything to get out of this situation. There was the elderly lady, far too concerned and curious about everything that was absolutely not her business. And of course there was her captain, looking back and forth between his nakama and the other woman – a 'nani?' practically written all over his face.

_Ah, to hell… What difference does it make anyway…_

"Yes, him", she stated plainly, faking a smile.

While the lady shot her a look of pity and bemusement at the same time, Nami quickly placed some money on the counter, grabbed her purchases and made for the door.

_No bargaining today… Just out of here…_

"Luffy, come on!" she commanded without turning around "we're leaving."

Yet Luffy, however, only followed tentatively, grudgingly. He had found his paradise; and he would make sure to return by himself soon, he thought to himself with a grin.

In front of him, Nami visibly slowed down; yet her face rapidly lost the crimson color and turned rather pale. Luffy walked up to his navigator.

"Anything wrong, Nami?" he asked, seriously concerned.

Nami shook her head and forced a grin.

"I'm fine… I… I just need a break…"

They slowly walked over to a close bench and Nami immediately sunk down onto it, leaning her head back. She was now panting heavily, her face a few shades paler than usually.

"Ne, Nami…", Luffy started, frowning at her in worry, "maybe we should go back…"

The navigator suddenly felt a warm rush, followed by a sharp, tearing pain. She bit her lips to keep herself from screaming out and thus kept the sound at a low moan.

Luffy's frown grew.

"Nami, let's go back…", he tried to urge her.

She nodded slightly, exhaling heavily after the unexpected pang of pain. She pushed herself up with much difficulty, leaning heavily against Luffy's small shoulder.

"I really think I need to go see Chopper now…"

* * *

"This is so gross…" the marksman muttered for what seemed the thousandth time in the past half hour.

Next to him stood Luffy, blinking, taking in every single detail of what was happening right before his eyes. Zoro had been instructed to keep an eye on the water and make sure that it had the right temperature, while Sanji was busying himself with dozens over dozens of towels, cushions and blankets. Luckily for all of them, Chopper had finally stopped his desperate cries demanding for a doctor, realizing that it was exactly his position upon the ship; and thus was now able to take care of the navigator.

She lay on her bed on another hundreds of towels, a doubled blanket resting on her stomach and legs. Her red hair was sweaty and clung to her forehand in thick strands. She was breathing rapidly, trying to drive away the last contraction's pain while already preparing for the next. She had surely felt pain before, but nothing had ever or would even come close to what she was feeling in that very moment. Her insides seemed to be trying to force their way out – which was not exactly wrong either – and, in the process, were tearing her open from her chest to her abdomen.

She screamed at the top of her lungs as another contraction shot through her body and made every single muscle, including many she never knew she had, tense up so much that they felt like they would simply tear apart. In an instance, it was gone again; the muscles collapsed, her head fell back into the pillows, her breath rapid and labored while Chopper seemed to try to instruct her on how to breathe properly.

Yet as soon as she had begun to actually relax and regain a bit of strength, another rush of pain surged through her body.

She only hoped it would be over soon…

* * *

_7 hours later…_

"This is so gross…"

Usopp was still frozen to the bone, while everybody was busying himself with making sure that Chopper, and thus Nami, had everything they might possibly need.

Another contraction, another scream. Her whole body cramped up momentarily to then completely collapse back onto the bed again. Her muscles had long turned sore; every night contraction taking more of her strength than the one before. And they were becoming much, much closer. Now there was no longer any time to catch her breath and prepare herself for the next one. It was just endurance, the pure will to make it through.

She breathed heavily, hastily, almost hyperventilating while Chopper was still trying to instruct her about the proper breathing rhythm

_Heck, she did not care how she breathed as long as she was able to breathe at all…_

_

* * *

_

_Another 3 hours later…_

Usopp had retreated to cowering in a corner, trying to avert his eyes from the events yet somehow drawn to them.

Nami felt completely drained. She had stopped counting the hours, stopped counting the contractions.

Her strength was fading, her pushes grew less powerful, her breathing more and more labored. Stars twinkled before her eyes every time the pain set in again.

She could not last much longer. There was just no more strength left.

Then again the pain resurfaced, making her scream out despite her sore throat. Yet when she felt a sudden rush of blood and a strange feeling of released pressure, an odd relaxation overcame her.

Her vision was starting to turn blurry until a tiny cry echo through the small room.

Nami instantly perked up and gazed over at Chopper, trying hard to refocus her eyes.

The little reindeer was busying himself on the other end of the bed, wrapping something into a small towel with a huge grin on her face. Beaming, he walked over to her and gently held the small bundle out to her. She took it, apprehensively, greedily, impatiently, longingly, and looked down into the cutest face she had ever seen.

"It's a girl!" Chopper announced, still beaming.

Nami still gazed at the tiny being in awe. On the top of her head, she had a thin fluff of red hair, just like her own, and her large blue eyes looked around aimlessly. The chubby nose twitched slightly as it unconsciously took in the scent of its surroundings. It was simply adorable.

The Going Merry had fallen completely silent while the whole crew had gathered around the bed, trying to catch a glimpse of the newborn.

With a pleasant smile, Nami handed the cute little bundle back to Chopper to give the others a better view of her little daughter.

"So… Nami…", Usopp's quivering voice broke the silence, "do you have a name?"

Nami nodded slightly, still smiling, her head sinking back into the pillows.

"Nyoko…"

Zoro let out a short bemused laugh.

"Nyoko… Treasure, eh?" he said with a grin, looking back and forth between Nami and her child. He seemed quite content with the choice she had made. "Sure fits!"

Luffy had started cheering for his latest nakama – he had already accepted the newborn as a valuable addition to his crew – and was now bending over the baby, introducing his toothy grin to the little girl.

"Nyo-chaaaaaan! I'm uncle Luffy!" he introduced himself, waving happily "Look at me, Nyooo-chaaaaaan!"

At this, the whole crew simply burst out laughing.

Much tension had been released in that very moment, many worries relieved, many nightmares proved wrong. And so, little Nyoko was passed around among the nakama, handled more carefully than any precious china, glass or priceless treasure had ever been.

Chopper smiled at the scene of the grown men cooing at the small baby and happily turned back around to the bed.

"Okay, Nami, now I'll have to…", he stopped as he looked at the young woman's face.

Pain and exhaustion had finally demanded their tribute; the navigator had fallen asleep.

* * *

_a/n: ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO! Wohoooooo! Happy B-day Nyo-chan!_ -does like Nami and simply collapses from exhaustion-_ How do you like the name, btw? It is a Japanese girl name meaning "treasure", which I think fits perfectly fine. Not only for the Nami's love for wealth but also as something you deeply treasure in your heart._

_And I'm sorry if there are typos or anything: I wrote this whole thing in one sitting (though it's actually enough for two chapters), my vision is quite blurry right now and my beta-reader nowhere to be foundOo So please bear with me…_

_Neway, the next chapter will be up by the end of next week the latest. Next and last chapter will be "**Chapter 10: Scenario X", **and I have actually even gotten around to make a decision about the fathering question. It should leave neither Sanji nor Zoro fans disappointed (or so I hope') (though I'm not sure if it's a good decision or just a cheap way out lol)_

_Btw, one this story is done, I have a One Piece one shot I'll do, but after that I'm free for challenges. So if you have any, just let me know._

_Also, without me noticing at all, this fic has turned into by far the longest one I have ever written. And no other story I ever wrote received this many reviews (I might even hit the 100 mark with this chapter! –knock on wood-), so thanx to all of you for your constant support!_

_Now a few words to my reviewers:_

**-Magus Black**: Yes, I am evil! Muhahahaha… Thanks for your advice, that's just what I'll do!

**-Omnichild**: Ah, then I guess I'm glad to know that I didn't write it all wrong (despite me having no experience whatsoever). And thanx for stopping the poking.. –grins-

**-mushi-azn**: You got another Sanji scene (which was incredibly easy to write.. just why could that be…?), I hope you like it! I spotted quite some mistakes in the last chapter, but was too lazy to fix them.. –ahem- I'm hoping this chapter isn't too trying for your sense of grammar and orthography!

**- DangerousandDemonicDevil**: Ding ding ding! Yes, he was, he made a cute little toy! Sorry for scaring you, but that was my intention! –laughs evilly- The chocolate thing? Not as far as I know, but there are loads of stories like that one.

**-Melinda-chan**: Yes, I couldn't do any harm to the poor little thing. And thanks for your info about the ship thing.

**-Zionne**: Yup, she's had it now, after another extremely long chapter… Hope you liked it anyway.

-**illustratedperson**: Yay, I get a song! I love songs! Arigato!

**-gothywolfie**: I WILL watch 4kids dub to make fun of it (and decide to bomb their HQ right afterwards). Of course I'll be taking my fansubs with me, half a year without OP would be hell…

**-Eiram-Chaosgodess**: I know, I'm sorry for scaring everybody.. But I never really wanted to kill the baby, it just seemed like and interesting ending. But then I could never bring myself to it and rather had Nami have it, as you see. Hope you liked it!

For now, everything hurts (head, eyes, neck, behind…), I really need to take a rest… and watch some OP! Happy reading and reviewing!


	10. Scenario 'X'

**Chapter 10: Scenario 'X'**

Almost two weeks had passed since the latest addition to the strawhat crew had been made. And although those days had been full of stress and ruckus due to the completely new situation; although sleep in most of the nights had been short – if not at all nonexistent -, sweet little Nyoko had instantly won everyone's heart. Even Zoro found it hard to deny that he had easily fallen for the tiny girl. Yet hardly anybody was more enthusiastic about her than Luffy, the crew's captain himself. Nami had often caught him sneaking up to the crib when Nyoko was taking a nap, where he would sit for hours just to watch her and wait until she would wake up and he would get the chance to play with her. Considering little Nyoko's – or Nyo-chan, as she was now affectionately called by the entire crew (except for Zoro of course, who would probably never bring the suffix –chan across his lips in his whole life) – playing was still well restricted: the cheery boy would closely lean over the girl and contort his face in all ways possible, and certainly in those quite impossible to normal human beings, until she smiled or laughed at him.

Now however, as Nami looked into her little daughter's wide eyes, it was not smile that she saw; her blue eyes, which were turning darker day by day – and the navigator suspected that they would soon be a dark brown – were glittering with large tears. Chopper had just taken a blood sample from the small child to determine her blood group; and Nyoko was obviously not too fond of syringes. As soon as the needle had touched the soft skin on her arm – no matter how gentle the ship's doctor had been – tears had sprung to her eyes and a low, crying sound had started echoing through the room.

"Shhh…", Nami whispered while gently rocking the small bundle in her arms, "It's okay… It'll stop hurting in no time…"

"Here, Nami-san", Smiling, Sanji handed her a small bottle, "This tea should help her calm down."

Nami accepted the bottle with a thankful smile. "Thank you, Sanji-kun."

She carefully brought the small glass container to the child's lips and watched contently as Nyoko started sucking in the tea and almost instantly calmed down.

In the meantime, Chopper had been busying himself with exchanging the blood samples between different vials, from time to time adding certain fluids to the red liquid, each single time closely eyeing the vial for any sort of reaction.

"So, Chopper…", Sanji began hesitantly, rubbing the inside of his elbow, "can you use the samples?"

The little reindeer slowly turned around to his nakama. Sanji's words had instantly gained him everybody's full attention. Zoro had cracked one eye open, still leaning with his back against the wall next to the door; Usopp had stopped working on another toy for little Nyoko.

The doctor was still holding a vial in his small hoof, the liquid in the glassy container showing a very slight change in color. He nodded.

"Yes, I could", he started tentatively. He already knew the answer to the question that had been on everybody's mind for many months now; he knew who little Nyoko's father was. He gulped nervously, bracing himself for the important announcement.

"Congratulations…"

Every single member of the crew instantly tensed up, perking their ears. The tension was almost strong enough to be sizzling through the air like bolts of electricity.

* * *

: _commencing:_

_**: Scenario Z**_

_**

* * *

**_

"Congratulations… Zoro…"

Silence.

A long silence.

There was no need for more than those two words, just 'Congratulations … Zoro…'.

The swordsman quietly closed his eye again, otherwise remaining completely motionless. Nami showed a surprised expression, letting out a small gasp, but then soon steadied her facial features and looked down to little Nyoko who was still greedily sucking in the tea, completely oblivious to anything around her. Usopp and Luffy, however, quickly recuperated from the sudden shock, sending their jaws clanking to the ground.

"Zoro?" Usopp muttered in disbelief.

Luffy titled his head to the side, eyeing his first mate in concentration.

"I'm hoping the poor girl didn't get _his _sense of direction…" the marksman muttered under his breath.

However, still loud enough for said swordsman to overhear.

"What was that…?" He cracked one eye open, his low voice grumbling through the room threateningly.

Yet before Usopp even had the time to duck his head and hide behind his captain, the sound of the door falling shut rang to their ears; the blond cook had quickly left the room, unnoticed, without a single word.

"Sanji-kun!"

The navigator tightened her grip around little Nyoko and was about to stand up to follow her nakama when a rough voice interrupted her.

"I'll talk to him", Zoro said calmly, while he was already making his way outside.

* * *

"Ah, so here you are." 

Zoro quietly walked up to Nami's small tangerine grove in the back of the Going Merry.

The blond cook stood among the thick bushes, busying himself with tending the soft soil and checking the orange fruits.

"What do you want?" Sanji asked gruffly, anything but pleased about the distraction when he obviously dearly wanted to be left alone.

"Nothing", the swordsman quietly stated, leaning his back against the railing. "I just didn't think you were the kind of man to break a promise that easily."

Sanji instantly spun around furiously, ready to leap at his nakama.

"Just say what you want, you darn swordsman!" he spat.

"Well", Zoro started, a smirk playing on his lips. He had gotten his male nakama by his pride. _So easy…_

"Didn't you promise Nami that you would support her no matter what? Just running off like that isn't what I'd call support…"

Sanji grimaced, gritting his teeth. He slowly turned his back toward his nakama.

"Easy for you to say something like that", he muttered under his breath, and went on tending the bushes, "after all you are…"

Yet before he could go on, he was instantly interrupted by Zoro.

"Easy is definitely not the right word for this situation, you should know that well enough", he cut Sanji off. "Look", he continued with a sigh, "I know this isn't what you would've wished for. And this situation will be hard on all of us. But this is definitely not the time to be egoistic. It's supposed to be about Nami and the child. Keeping them safe and supported should be the major concern, not some stupid, selfish wishes. They both need all of us now, not just me because of the results of some stupid genetic test or whatever. We'll all have to hold responsibility."

Sanji quietly balled his hands into fists, his white knuckles protruding the thick skin.

"Do you think I don't know that?" he pressed out in a mere whisper. "But that's not going to make things easier…"

Zoro shook his head with a sarcastic grin.

"Nobody ever said it would be easy, you know that. But pouting about it won't do any good either."

Sanji quietly nodded. Zoro was certainly right, he knew that very well. And he would never ever back out of a promise, especially not one he had made to his precious Nami-san.

"And now get your butt back in there, you shitty cook", Zoro added with a smirk, "Go back and stand up like a man."

Sanji scowled at his green haired nakama, forcing a weak grin.

"You don't know how much I hate it when you're right…"

* * *

"Don't even think about it…" Zoro said with a grin on his lips. 

He easily picked little Nyoko up with one hand under her stomach and brought her up to the level of his own face.

"You're quite the troublemaker", he said, faking a sincere look "Bad girl." _Almost like your mother, _he added with an inward smirk.

Half year old little Nyoko however seemed to be anything but impressed by the swordsman's threatening looks and immediately started laughing in her sweet little voice. It was a laugh that even Zoro could not possibly resist.

He quietly chuckled to himself and turned the girl onto her back, gently setting her down onto his lap.

She blinked up at him in surprise.

"That's what you get for laughing at me…" he grinned and started tickling the little girl's stomach.

She instantly broke out in a fit of adorable high pitched giggle, wiggling and turning in her father's lap.

The young swordsman watched contently while continuing his kind punishment.

The word father still sounded odd in his ears when used to refer to him, yet somehow he no longer made any objections. He had instantly fallen for the cute little girl; and although she meant far more trouble than he had ever imagined possible, he could never be mad at her. He would try of course; children needed rules for guidance. But when she looked at him with her huge brown eyes, he knew that he would do anything for her, no matter what, no matter when.

Inwardly, the old Zoro laughed about how weak and easily manipulated he had become, but he did not care. He now had a new reason fight, and a much greater determination to win and keep on living.

* * *

Nami stretched her back with a yawn and stood up from her chair. 

Her nights had turned quite short since Nyoko had been born, and rest and time for herself become very scarce. Yet all this would still not keep her from pursuing her dream. Even if it meant to work until she once again fell asleep over her map work – which happened quite frequently now.

This morning she had left Nyoko in Zoro's care. The swordsman was doing quite well with his new role, much to her surprise. He was of course not the usual first-time father, but even he could not hide the pride for his little daughter, Nami thought with a small chuckle. The little girl had him under her complete control even now when she was not yet able to talk and had barely learned to crawl; and a smirk came to Nami's face as she would pictured his commitment and protectiveness once the small girl started turning into a young woman.

The navigator was still chuckling to herself as she stepped out onto the deck, ready to relieve the swordsman from his child watching duties. Yet what she saw once she spotted the young man and the child made it hard for her to believe that he actually wanted to be released:

Zoro was gently moving a beaming little Nyoko up and down on his leg, smiling to himself.

"You do surprise me from time to time, you know?" Nami grinned as she walked over to the two and quietly sat down, leaning her back against the mast.

Zoro carefully handed her the small child and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I guess I even surprise myself at times…" he added with a content smirk.

There was a long silence while the red haired navigator quietly rocked her daughter to sleep.

"Ne, Zoro…", she said softly, stroking Nyoko's cheek.

The swordsman shot her a questioning look.

"Thank you…" she added, stifling a yawn.

_Thank you? What was she thanking him for? _He frowned and turned back toward the navigator to voice his question.

Yet right as he was about to open his mouth, the sight before him sent a grin to his face.

He shook his head and gently took the yawning girl out of her sleeping mother's arms.

"So it _did _turn into a habit of yours…", he grinned.

* * *

: closing Scenario Z

: commencing:

_**: Scenario S**_

_**

* * *

**_

"Congratulations… Sanji…"

Silence.

A long silence.

There was no need for more than those two words, just 'Congratulations … Sanji…'.

The cook slowly ran a hand through his blond hair, his mind still busy trying to comprehend what he had just heard.

The swordsman calmly nodded to himself, closing his eyes and remained leaning against the wall while the rest of the room was still fighting for comprehension.

Usopp, the marksman, was the first to regain his speech.

"Man, Nami… You're lucky that her eyebrows didn't take after his…" he commented, looking back and forth between Sanji and the little girl in Nami's arms. Out of experience, he braced himself against would most certainly be coming for him from Sanji's direction but was quite surprised when the blond cook remained completely silent, as if nailed to the ground.

Nami shot the young man a questioning look, yet he did not seem to take any notice.

"Oi… Sanji…", Usopp decided to try his luck, curiously eyeing the cook. "Are you okay?"

The blond man slowly nodded, once again running a hand through his hair, his gaze directed at nothing in particular. And while he felt a heat gradually radiating through every single part of his body, he inwardly scowled to himself.

_It was for moments like these that smoking had been invented…_

_

* * *

_

"Oi, Zoro." Sanji greeted the swordsman, "I was wondering where you'd gone."

Zoro did not make the effort to look up into his nakama's face but simply kept doing his single fingered pushups.

"I'm exercising, as you see." He commented plainly. _Why can't you just leave me alone?_

"Oh come on, stop that stupid act", Sanji answered casually leaning against the railing.

"I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about…"

"Of course you do", Sanji added with a smirk, "Even an idiot like you should know what I mean."

Zoro hastened the pace of his exercises. Jumping at the cook and tearing him apart in midair would do no good right now. Even though he would certainly have loved to…

"Enlighten me, dartboard-brow…"

"Stop acting like you don't care." Sanji said frankly.

Silence. Only the steady beat of the swordsman's exercises rang through the cool air.

"Damnit it, Marimo…", Sanji spat at his nakama. "This isn't the time to be selfish and put on your cool act. This is about Nami and little Nyoko. They need support, from all of us. It won't help if you just distance yourself from them." He sighed. "It's not bad to show your feelings, you know?"

Zoro slightly tilted his side to take a quick glance at Sanji to then return to his training.

"I'm not like you."

Sanji grinned, running a hand through his blond hair.

"Oh, of course you're not", he inwardly chuckled to himself and shifted his weight from one leg onto the other. "But I know you still care."

The rhythm of Zoro's breathing slowed as the pace of his exercises decreased. The swordsman quietly closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.

"So what?"

Sanji sighed, looking at his nakama while shaking his head.

"How often do I have to tell you for it to get through that thick skull of yours? Stop that cold act already." He then added with a grin playing on his lips: "Talking about it won't hurt. Not that I'd want you to come to _me _to talk, of course…"

A grin crept to Zoro's lips.

"Not that anybody could ever _make me_ turn to you for a talk."

Sanji chuckled to himself, and then turned around to walk back into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

"Now stop your pouting and be a man, Uncle Zoro."

The instant those words had come over the cook's lips, the swordsman rose from the ground, his back to his nakama.

"Get lost already", he muttered lowly. Yet his words instantly betrayed his cool manner, the grin obvious through the playfully threatening words. "One more thing…"

Halfway to the kitchen, Sanji turned his head to look at his nakama over his shoulder.

"Don't you ever call me 'Uncle Zoro' again, you shitty cook…"

Sanji's grin widened as he walked on and gave a short wave with his right hand.

"Oh, don't worry; the idea wouldn't even come to my mind, _Uncle Marimo."_

_

* * *

_

A low cry rang to the navigator's ears.

The young woman turned around under the bed sheets once more, hoping the sound had been only a singular event.

Yet the cry was repeated.

Nami sighed; she was about to pry open her eyes and push herself up and walk over to her small daughter, when another sound mingled with the low cries: the door to Nami's room slowly creaked open, followed by the sound of careful footsteps.

"Shhh… It's all right, Nyo-chan", a soft male voice whispered, "no need to wake up mommy; she needs her sleep."

The sound of rustling sheets could be heard as little Nyoko was taken out of her bed. The crying soon ebbed down as the footsteps grew more silent and further away.

"Just what…?" Nami whispered to herself.

Slowly, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and quietly got up. On her toes, she followed the distant sound of the footsteps mingled with the soft crying sounds; her curiosity had gotten the better of her. When the footsteps had finally come to a halt, she found herself leaning against the doorway next to the kitchen.

Peeking into the small room, she came to witness a scene that involuntarily brought a smile to her face.

* * *

The blond cook carefully shifted the little girl into his right arm and picked up the milk bottle. 

Testing the white liquid on his hand to make sure it was not to hot for the little girl, he seemed satisfied with the result and gently brought the bottle to Nyoko's lips. She instantly grabbed the bottle with her tiny hands and started sucking greedily.

Sanji grinned.

"Now now, no need to rush", he said gently and sat down on the table. "There's plenty more."

The young man looked down into the little girl's face. Her large brown eyes, her cute nose, the fiery hair, her sweet little laugh… it all had captivated him instantly. There was no denying that he had fallen for little Nyoko. She was the sweetest thing he had ever seen. And knowing that she was not only the child of his precious Nami-san, the angelic being that the Heavens had sent down onto the earth to grace it with her beauty, but also his own flesh and blood, made him proud beyond belief. She had not been conceived out of conscious love, that much was certainly true; but to him that made absolutely no difference.

She was his little girl. And he would do anything he had to do to protect this tiny being.

Gently, he brought his hand down to her face and brushed a way a stray strand of thin red hair. He traced her delicate skin with his fingertips, let them glide over her round cheeks, to the lips that bore the sweetest smile and finally to her own tiny fingers that were now clutching the bottle tightly.

A comforting warm sensation ran through his whole body, head to toe, as it did every single time he touched the small girl or even looked at her. Even thinking about her sent a pleasant shiver down his spine; a shiver of excitement and the wish to cradle her in his arms to keep her from the dangers and evildoers of the wide world.

As the bottle was emptying, Nyoko seemed to grow tired and full and eased her grip on the glassy container. Sanji carefully took it from her and set it into the sink. For a long moment, all he did was look at her, stare into her large, blinking eyes. With a smile, he planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Your daddy loves you a lot, little one, you know?" he whispered, barely audible.

"I think she feels that, Sanji-kun", a female voice suddenly sounded from the door and soft footsteps approached the two of them. Nami quietly walked up to them with a smile and, sitting down on a chair in front of Sanji, she gazed from the blond cook to their little daughter.

"Nami-san…" A slight blush crept to his cheeks, "I thought you were still sleeping."

She shook her head, stifling a yawn.

"Nope. The instant she cries, sleep's over for me", she commented, looking over at Nyoko with a soft smile.

"Oh…", Sanji muttered, seemingly a little disappointed. But he soon hid the bitter feeling behind a kind smile and looked down at the now sleeping child. "I wanted you to get enough sleep tonight; after all you've been up almost every night lately… Sorry I couldn't be there earlier, Nami-san…"

Nami carefully shook her head and smiled up at her nakama.

"It's okay, Sanji-kun, it was very kind of you", she thanked him. Suddenly, she reached up and placed a gently kiss on his cheek, "Arigato." Stifling another yawn, the young woman closed her eyes and tiredly leaned against the cook's shoulder.

The blush on his face darkened immensely; his brain was on the brink of shutting down to turn into love mode; the hundreds and thousands of tiny hearts were just waiting for their chance to pop out.

This was heaven.

No, it was even better than that.

It was…

_Mellorine---_

_

* * *

_

: closing Scenario S

: commencing:

**_: Scenario N (the one that was never supposed to be)_**

**_

* * *

_**

"Come on, Nyo-chan, say it again!" the captain pleaded in his whiny voice, bouncing up and down in front of little Nyoko, "Say it for Uncle Luffy!"

Nami shook her head, chuckling to herself. Her small daughter was now a little over half a year old and had of course easily captivated the hearts of every single member of the straw hat pirates. The fathering question however had not been solved yet, since, for some odd reason, none of the blood tests had delivered a positive result. This was, of course, a quite an unexpected turn of events and had resulted in many long discussion, arguments and accusations. Yet in the end it did not make much of a difference: all of her male nakama had fallen for Nyoko straight away and were more caring and protective than she would have ever imagined.

"Please, Nyo-chan!" Luffy whined again and then directed his words to his crew "Look, Nyo-chan can talk! Listen, everybody!"

Of course this instantly gained him everybody's attention, so that the enthusiastic boy finally turned back to the little girl and nodded to her.

"Okay, Nyo-chan, say it now."

For some odd reason, the little girl actually seemed to understand the rubber boy and faced the crew. A huge grin spread on her face, showing off her teeth, as her tiny voice determinedly sounded:

"Meshiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" _(a/n: meshi - food)_

"See? Isn't that great?" the captain laughed and joined the girl with a toothy grin.

It was as if Luffy's face had split into two.

Five jaws were sent crashing to the floor loudly as the realization sunk in.

"Oh my… Guys, please tell me I'm seeing things…"the navigator muttered, unable to remove her gaze from the odd sight in front of her.

"Poor Nami…", Usopp said, shaking his head in pity. "You have my honest sympathy…"

* * *

: closing Scenario N

: The End :

* * *

_a/n: It's… over… It's… finally… done… I can't… believe it… -sniff- My longest fanfiction ever has finally come to an end… And I even received the ridiculous amount of –gulp- 113 reviews so far… THANK YOU! Thank you for all of the reviews, and thank you for reading this story and thus supporting me in the best way possible! _

_But now you've finally seen my 'cheap way out'. As you can see, it's simple alternate endings. In the beginning, my choice for the fathering question was quite set, yet the more I wrote, the more difficult it became for me to decide. And since I wanted to see both characters, Sanji and Zoro, in both situations, I decided to go for alternate endings (the credit for the idea goes to one of my best friends, Christina!)_

_I'm hoping you appreciate this way of ending the story, or at least accept it. I felt like I had to give you a special ending to thank you for all the support I received, and though I doubt it, I am sincerely hoping that these endings are to your liking._

_I am at the same time relieved for having finished the story, quite quickly as well, and sad, for I sincerely loved writing this story. Placing the One Piece characters in situations I would like to see them in –even though they often turned quite out of character- was much more fun than I ever imagined._

_For this reason, I would love to keep writing One Piece, yet apart from a single oneshot that I will be writing down soon, I have no set ideas in mind. I would thus be grateful for challenges!_

**BTW: The third scenario (Scenario N) isn't meant quite seriously, I realize that, but I simply felt that adding a little but of humor and surprise to the ending wouldn't hurt.**

And now a few individual words to my reviewers:

**CloeyMarie: **I'm really glad you like the name, and thank you for complimenting my writing style! I'm hoping this chapter and my oneshot will be to your liking as well!

**Gothywolfie: **Thank you for complimenting Usopp's toy! I bet the marksman would be flattered by your comment!

**Omnichild: **I guess labor is just different for everyone, but I'm glad I got the rest right. But I have to compliment you for naming your daughter, Naoko is one of my favourite Japanese names.

**Mushi-azn: **As you can see in this chapter, no one definitely ends up with Nami, but it's open to the reader's imagination to think of how the situation develops. Though I have tired adding scenes to keep both couples in the run.

**Namibean: **Thank you for complimenting on the name! I'm glad it seems to receive so much appreciation from everybody.

**Rashie: **I would never EVER do something as cruel as that, even if it sounds like a good ending. But, honestly, I couldn't bring myself to doing something like that (even though it's true that she had caring nakama)

**Illusion of a Lunatic: **I did kind of hurry to get the chapter up, but the thanks for that goes more to one of my best friends, who kept urging me to complete the ficcie (she already read Scenario Z and half of Scenario S before it was even done and she quite liked it).

**SRHumphrey727: **Thank you for reviewing all of my chapters! Zoro does seem kind of cold, I know that, but that is just his way of handling the situation, I think. He is just way too proud (or stubborn) to ever admit that he feels sad or disappointed or any of that.

**Reeses: ** As I said before, I think labor is different for everybody. I would not say that Nami is weak, but being in that much pain (whatever it may result from), you often feel like you'll collapse any second even though you don't, just because you are simply tired. But I'm still glad to hear you like my story!

**Ceestar: ** I said it was neither of them? Really? –scrolls back up to find where she wrote it- Depending on which ending you prefer or how you take it, it could be either of the two.


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